BOOK TWO: James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings
by Luke Grant
Summary: Though the MHM was weakened by their defeat last year, they are very much alive.  They now seek the last heir to an ancient legacy to champion them.  Meanwhile, James will enter his 2nd Year at Hogwarts: where he'll find new adventures and new challenges.
1. Chapter 1: The Heir Among Us

**This Fanfiction is the Sequel to James Potter and the Continuous Legacy which can be found on my author page.  
**

**If you have not done so already, I highly recommend that you should read 'Legacies' or you will have a hard time understanding some of the plot elements in this Fanfiction. However, it is not absolutely necessary to read 'Legacies' in order to enjoy this Fanfiction, so if you're too lazy to read it you can still read 'Bloodlines' and enjoy it all the same.**

Chapter One: The Heir Among us

The backmost and most secret alleyways and hidey holes of London were abuzz with rumor, rumor of strange stories that had been circulating the country in recent months. In most centers of gossip, even the most gullible of people would not have put much stock in these stories; however these rumors were not being told in the usual centers of gossip. These stories were being heard only in the most hushed of tones, by those with knowledge of things secret to most, and with magic in their blood.

However, even by the standards of Wizards, this was not the easiest of stories to believe. The stories held that a radical sect of Dark Wizards, referring to themselves as the Magical History Movement, had blasted apart half of Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest in their search for some legendary magical object that would have enabled them to destroy Harry Potter: who they viewed as a traitor to the Wizarding World for killing the to-be-savior of Wizardkind, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!

They further held that James Potter, the eldest son of the infamous Boy-Who-Lived, had been the one responsible for stopping them! Him and a bunch of First Year students! At first, very few had believed the stories; however a headlining Daily Prophet article praising the young Potter's heroics had begun to convince people of the rumor's validity.

Once people had been forced to accept what had happened, the Magical History Movement had lost much of the fear and respect that it had held amongst the Wizarding Community. "If they could be thwarted by a bunch of snot-nosed eleven year olds," people asked, "then just how dangerous and powerful could they really be?"

Then, of course, was the organization's glaring lack of any presentable leadership. While everyone knew that the MHM was led by a single man his identity was unknown to just about everybody, whether they were inside the organization or not.

Ordinarily, this may have inspired terror of the unknown in the hearts of many, however in light of the organizations recent failures it served only to underline the organizations apparent weaknesses. Rather than being designed to maintain an air of mystery around him, it was now believed that he was keeping his identity a secret out of embarrassment of his organizations shortcomings.

Though the true reasons for his concealing his identity lay in keeping himself away from the reach of the Ministry of Magic, the public perception of his cowardice was something that would be very difficult to change. And if it did not change, it could prove to be an insurmountable hurdle to the aims of the Magical History Movement.

That was why this scheme had been hatched, in order to ensure that the name of their movement once again instilled fear and terror in the hearts of their enemies, and respect and admiration in the eyes of those loyal to the cause of justice. The Magical History Movement needed a public face, someone who could stand as a figurehead in representation of their goals: and they believed that they had found exactly that!

As was generally the custom for the secretive movement, the meeting that was called consisted of only a very few. The fewer people who knew of the specifics of the plan the better; besides, gathering in such large numbers left them vulnerable to a raid by the Ministry. If they ever gathered in one place, and the location of that meeting were discovered, it could prove fatal to their noble goal.

So tonight, under the silvery light of the waxing crescent moon, only four were gathered in the stuffy old house, if it could be called that, to hear of this plan. The house, as it has been called, was actually more of a garage or a shed, as certainly no one had ever lived in such a small, foul smelling environ.

The gatherers all wore long black cloaks with upturned hoods, though everyone in the room knew exactly who the others were, it was a tradition of the noble organization that hoods be worn during such meetings. They hid their faces from the world, as they had been forced to keep the truth hidden in much the same way.

But, if all went well, that was all going to change very very soon! With a visible, inspirational public symbol of a leader at the head of their organization they would soon be attracting more recruits than ever before! What did it matter that this new 'leader' was to be nothing more than a puppet without any real power of his own? There was no need for the people to know this; all they needed to know was that he stood in line with the MHM's goals.

Of course, there was always the remote possibility that their target would not be supportive of their goals, but if that were the unfortunate case there were many ways of bending a person to your will.

* * *

The room was silent, not a whisper, not the slightest hint of any kind of noise or sound. Finally, the mysterious leader of the Magical History Movement spoke. In a voice that sounded as though it were speaking to them across centuries, he said "My friends, we gather here tonight under some of the darkest times that our ill-fated venture has ever known. As he toil to enlighten the Wizarding World to the lies that have been foisted upon them, our efforts have been blocked and shunted aside."

There was no reaction from the listeners, who simply stared back at the man intently, waiting for the reason for their meeting to be addressed. They would have to wait a little longer though, as the man continued "Yes, and what is worse, it was mere dumb luck that enabled that Potter boy to stop us! No doubt he is just as meddlesome and interfering as his father, but he is of no concern to us. He is a mere child who happened to stumble upon something far too big for him. Should he ever cross our paths again, we shall destroy him without a second thought."

There was a pause, and the silence began to creep back into the room before he continued "But as it is, we need not worry ourselves with him. Remember my friends; we are not murderers like Harry Potter! We do not needlessly kill and slaughter to get what we want!"

There was a low murmur of assent from those gathered in the room, but otherwise the others remained silent. They knew better than to interrupt when The Master was in the middle of a speech.

"But now," he continued "Our efforts are being scorned, and laughed at by those who mistake Potter's luck for our incompetence! Who mistake our necessary precautions as fears. Well my friends, that no longer need be the case."

With a grin that contained no mirth or humor, only the cold hard look of a man possessed, he explained, "For we shall have our face to the public my friends, someone in whose veins runs the Blood of Kings! The legacy of a hundred generations! Someone in whom rests the last remnants of the ancestry of Salazar Slytherin!"

There was a collective gasp of shock from those present, surely such a thing would be impossible. Everyone knew that the last dregs of Slytherin's known Bloodline had dried up with the murder of the Dark Lord all those years ago.

As though their shock amused him, the man continued as though he had not been even remotely faze by their reaction, "Yes, though it was believed that the Bloodline of the most noble of Hogwarts' Founders had run dry, I have stumbled across an ancient birth record that show another heir to the Slytherin legacy! It took some digging to get to the point where modern records were available, but there is no doubt that one other heir remains!"

The room was silent, but this was a silence of a completely new form. Rather than a silence of respectful attention, this was a silence of shock and disbelief. It was simply impossible to consider that what The Master was saying was true; but at the same time there was no questioning anything that he ever said. The penalty for such insolence was far too terrible to imagine!

"I can see that some of you harbor doubts." The man said, as though he had been expecting such. Nodding he continued "That is, of course, understandable. But here," he added with a flourish as he pulled a tattered and yellowing piece of parchment from within his robes, "I have irrefutable proof of the validity of my claims! Anyone who wishes may feel free to test the authenticity of this relic magically. I will not object."

No one dared to ask to test the scroll, doing so would be akin to placing the noose around one's own neck.

Tutting in disappointment, he finally spoke again, "No takers, pity. Very well, I shall have to prove it myself." With another flourish he drew his wand out of his robes and stabbed the scroll with it muttering an incantation; when he did so there was a flash of yellow light that blinded all of those present.

After a few moments, as their eyes began to refocus, the men saw that the parchment scroll was unharmed: proof that it said exactly what he had said it did. This knowledge filled the men present with no little amount of fear and awe. The heir of Slytherin could be an enormous boost to their cause, but at the same time he could also bring about their doom should he stand in opposition to them.

"Does…does he know?" one man finally breathed, his bald head glistening with sweat as the fast pace of events were beginning to overwhelm him.

"No, he does not know." The Master said, before adding almost as an afterthought, "Though I believe that somewhere, at the very core of himself, he may have some sense of who he is. He may not know why, but I believe he knows that he is someone important. Someone who will have a future to match his families incredible past: a past that he knows nothing about of course."

Then, the question that had hung on all of their lips, "Will he join us?" asked a tall dark woman whose complexion was that of someone from the Mediterranean: perhaps French.

The Master laughed, a cold mirthless laugh that filled all those present with dread. "He will not have a choice." He said simply, "I will make absolute sure of that."

There was some a feeling of discontent amongst those present, but nobody dared to speak up, for The Master's word was law! Anyone who dared act as though it were else wise should count himself lucky if he lived to see out the week!

"Who…who is this man?" asked the last person in the room, a short and squat man who had tufts of red hair that stuck up irregularly.

"No, it is not a man that we are after!" The Master corrected, "No, the person we are looking for is a child, much easier to control that way!" He glared out the window, seemingly thoroughly enjoying keeping them in such suspense. "In just a few months he will have returned to Hogwarts, if we could take him before then it would make our lives much easier. But alas, we cannot. If all is to go according to plan, he must appear as our rallying point immediately after we take him, and if he is resistant to our goals, then we will need the power of the Amulet in order to control him."

"The Amulet, my liege?" asked the woman, breathless with anticipation of what The Master would say. It was all starting to fall into place, to make perfect sense. A child would appear as a shining beacon of the power of virtue and innocence to their cause. An ace in the hole, a great victory for their noble cause!

The Master flashed another of his cruel grins and explained "Yes, it will enable us to bend the boy to our will. But it will take some time to acquire. As such, we will be unable to take the boy until he has returned to Hogwarts in the Fall. And while it might be easier to wait until next summer to take him, I feel that our cause would be better supported if we took him…a bit earlier than that. But all will be explained in time."

Then, he seemed to remember the question that had started his speech. "Ah but yes, you asked of the identity of the boy. Well feast your eyes my friends, upon the last surviving trace of Slytherin's Bloodline!" he shouted, as he unfurled the scroll…


	2. Chapter 2: Following in the Footsteps

Chapter Two: Following in the Footsteps

The sun dawned on a quiet summer day in Grimauld Place, a day much like any other in the long uninterrupted freedom that Summer Holidays could bring for children. But in one household in Grimauld Place, today would mark a very special occasion: one which the family had been looking forward to for years.

Number Twelve Grimauld Place was a curious residence as, to most people, it wasn't even there! Only to those who had been informed of the secret of the house could see it. The family that lived in Number Twelve was not people who got overwhelmed by inconsequential things, but today the house was alive with celebrations of a truly momentous event. A celebration very similar in nature to that which had taken place at Number Twelve in April of the previous year was taking place. For on that day, July the 14th, Albus Severus Potter was celebrating his 11th Birthday!

Perhaps to most families, 11 would not be marked by a particularly special or meaningful celebration. Such gatherings would be saved until two years later, at the 13th Birthday, or perhaps expended the year before for the 10th. However, the Potters were not an ordinary family by any means: they were a family of Wizards!

And amongst Wizards, the 11th Birthday was one of the most important that a child would ever have. For it was after their 11th Birthday that a child would be able to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The year before, Albus had been forced to watch his brother James go off to school without him, and had agonized in jealousy when James had returned spouting tales about his adventures at the infamous Wizarding School.

But this year, Albus was not to be left behind, for this year was to be Albus' First Year at Hogwarts, where he would have all sorts of adventures just like his brother! When Albus' Hogwarts Acceptance Letter arrived just a few short days later, he was practically leaping with excitement.

Waving the letter in his brother's face he said "Look, look Jamie! I'm gonna go to Hogwarts with you this year." his boyish excitement bursting from his small features.

James, for his part, had rolled his eyes at his brother's enthusiasm, though he had been just as excited the year before. "Yea, that's great Al." James had replied dryly, "So long as you don't end up in Slytherin!"

Albus' happiness had faded somewhat at this prospect, but he had quickly brightened again saying "I'm not gonna be in Slytherin Jamie, I'm gonna be in Gryffindor like you, and mom, and dad, and everyone else!" Of course he would not be in Slytherin, why would his brother say that?

"Whatever you say Albus" James replied coolly, walking out of the room, already knowing that his words were going to continually haunt his brother over the coming month.

At first however, James' words meant nothing to Albus, just the usual teasing that he had to undergo from his older brother. But then he started to think about what would happen if he _was_ in Slytherin. After all, wasn't he named at least in part for a Slytherin? Albus _Severus_ Potter!

Like a festering wound, the question began to fill Albus' mind, possessing him until he could think of nothing else. James, on the other hand, had many other things on his mind. Many, many other things.

* * *

He had waited, waited and waited and waited as long as he could, put it off as long as possible, but now he was going to have to tell his father what had happened at the end of last year in the Forbidden Forest. James had not told anyone yet, and the thought of his father's reaction petrified him.

But he had to tell his father, partly because it concerned him, and partly because James was very scared about what the experience had meant. For that May, while he battled an agent of the Voldemort Revisionist Movement and attempted to destroy the fabled Resurrection Stone, he had heard the voice of his dead grandfather. The first James Potter, someone whom James had never even met!

And so, when James had finally plucked up the courage to do what needed to be done, he approached his father timidly. "Daddy…" James said softly, "I need to talk to you about something."

Harry Potter, for his part, was somewhat nervous of what his son was going to tell him. James was always the sort to get himself into trouble, and Harry worried that his son may have gone somewhat too far in a prank and really hurt someone. "Yes James, what is it?" he asked hesitantly.

"It's about what happened that night in the Forbidden Forest," James had long since told his father about the night, "When I was in the Forest…I heard a voice, but it was…" James could not find a way to explain to his father how he had known without being told who was speaking to him.

His father, however, had experienced the power of the Resurrection Stone firsthand, and was able to guess what his son was trying to say. "You heard the voice of someone who was dead." He finished gravely, realizing not for the first time that what his son had gone through must have been just as incredible as any of his adventures.

Awestruck by his father's guess, James simply nodded weakly and said "Yea. Yea I did." He paused, unable to say those words, but he had to. "It was Grandad who spoke to me daddy. Your father, the one I'm named after."

James' father sighed heavily, what his son had told him did not surprise him very much, but it did fill him with old feelings of sadness and regret that he hadn't felt for some time. He knew why his son had heard that voice, but it did not make hearing it any easier.

"James," he said finally, "The Resurrection Stone cannot truly bring someone back from the dead, but what it can do is present a sort of impression of them. In your fear and desperation, you may have caught a hold of a tendril of the Stone's Power, and brought someone back for help. That person would be the one you most desperately wanted to see, in your case your namesake."

James was shocked, and somewhat relieved by this knowledge. Of course, the knowledge of how powerful the Stone truly was caught him quite unawares, but his overwhelming sense was that of relief.

He had thought, for some time, that something was wrong with him: that he had lost his mind and would be cursed with the sounds of the dead for the rest of his life. The knowledge that it had had nothing to do with him and would never happen again, filled him with a sense of relief he had not felt in months.

Unable to voice his thanks in mere words, James hugged his father tightly, trying to convey in that action all of his relief and love and thanks. However, his father was not done talking just yet.

"And while we're being honest here James, I noticed that you stole a little something from my Office last summer!"

* * *

James' Aunt Hermione, Uncle Ron, Aunt Angelina, and Uncle George had come that day to Grimauld Place with James' cousins Hugo, Rose, and Fred to celebrate Albus Fred and Rose's acceptance to Hogwarts. James had not felt much like joining in the celebrations, reflecting instead on the fact that none of his Aunts or Uncles had been there for _his_ party the year before.

"Hey James, we were gonna go play Gobstones in the basement. You wanna come?" Hugo asked him. James looked at the boy disinterestedly; Hugo had inherited his father's freckles, and in most other regards looked as much like his father as Albus looked like his.

"Nah, I don't really fancy watching you and Albus disgrace another game." James teased, at which Hugo retreated from the room pink-faced.

It was rather childish of James to pester his cousin for no real reason, but he was still in a foul mood after his conversation with his father the day before. His father had spent half the afternoon berating him for taking the Marauder's Map, and was even more furious when James refused to tell him where he had found out about the Map from.

In the end though, James' father had agreed to let him keep the Map so long as he did not tell his mother. While Harry Potter begrudgingly knew that his son was not going to be stopped from being a rule-breaker like he had been, he knew that his wife would not feel the same.

Though he should probably have been grateful that his father did not ground him, or insist on him returning the Map, James instead was annoyed with his father for bothering to lecture him about 'taking things that didn't belong to him.'

However, when Lily came up a few minutes after Hugo to ask James to go down with them, James conceded. Mostly because he knew that he wasn't going to have any fun sitting around upstairs with his older relatives; but also because he knew that keeping his younger sister happy was going to help him in the coming months. The summer before, his red-headed sister had been hysterical at the thought of being left behind while her eldest brother went to Hogwarts. Now, with both of her brothers heading off to school, she was sure to be ready to explode in one of her infamous tantrums.

When James entered the basement of Number Twelve, his cousin Rose sarcastically remarked, "Oh, has the king decided to descend from his throne to sit amongst us common folk? Do what do we owe the pleasure King James the Big-Headed?"

Rose Weasley was one of James' favorite cousins because the two of them got on so well, they both had a tendency for trouble-making, and they both had a never-ending supply of comeback lines. Rose looked exceptionally like her mother, except for her flaming red hair. However Rose Weasley, like her mother, was a little too bookish for James: something he told her constantly.

"Well," James replied in a regal tone, "I decided that I would grace you with my presence in order to show you how a true Gryffindor should comport himself. Being the obvious Ravenclaw that you are, you wouldn't know."

Of all the things that James could have said to Rose, there was nothing that could have silenced her more quickly than this. Like Albus, Rose was terrified of what would happen during her Sorting when she went to Hogwarts. However, unlike Albus, Rose had the added pressure of having her father telling her constantly that if she was not Sorted into Gryffindor she would disgrace the family name.

Of course, Rose's father was only joking, but Rose was too frightened to see it that way. Something that James knew all too well from his First Year at Hogwarts; though he would never have admitted it to anyone.

"That's low James, I thought you had _some_ tact!" Hugo snapped, rushing to his elder sister's defense. Which James found to be oddly amusing, mainly because Rose was generally not much nicer to Hugo than James was to Albus.

"I don't know what you're talking about Hugo, I'm just saying it like it is." James said, not noticing that Albus' grin had slid off his face, and he too was looking just as frightened and somber as Rose. Both eleven-year-olds were thinking of their Sorting, and what would happen to them when the Sorting Hat was placed upon their head. Fred on the other hand looked completely calm, as thought the possibility of him being Sorted anywhere other than Gryffindor had not even remotely occurred to him.

"Just give it a rest James, you're not being funny." Hugo said in a huff, turning away from James and back towards the game that he was in the middle of with Albus. However, the younger Potter no longer seemed to be very interested in the game. He didn't even laugh when the marbles squirted Hugo in the face with a foul-smelling sticky liquid. His mind was a thousand miles away.


	3. Chapter 3: Wands and Warnings

Chapter Three: Wands and Warnings

Diagon Alley was a place that never seemed to quiet down; no matter what the time of year the place was always full of Witches and Wizards looking to get their hands on a new set of robes, or an ounce of newt tails. However, during the summer, Diagon Alley was even more alive with activity than it normally was, as overexcited children and fussing parents shopping for school supplies were added to the mix.

At least, James reflected, it was a rather nice and sunny day; as nothing was worse than trying to force your way through the teeming throng of Diagon Alley in the pouring rain. On this day though, that would not be a concern, as the sun was shining down between the rooftops and into the narrow street ways of Diagon Alley: filling the row of shops with a warmth and ambiance.

The rather large extended family of Potters and Weasleys that would be sending their children off to school that year had all gone to Diagon Alley together, and so James was cheerfully chatting with his cousin Fred as the three 'families' which were really one family tried to work out some kind of way to get the school supplies for three First Years and one Second Year in a quick and orderly fashion.

James had always gotten along with Fred Weasley better than any of his other cousins, and he was the only one who could beat out Rose for James' attention. Like James and Rose, Fred seemed to have inherited a penchant for troublemaking, it would have been impossible for him not to have seeing as he was the son of one of Hogwarts' most accomplished rule breakers. However he was not restrained with his rule breaking like Rose was and like James did not see the need to bury his head in a book. Plus, Fred was a bloke, and James always found it easier to get along with other guys.

Fred Weasley, though he had picked up on his father's trouble-making antics, did not look much like his father. Other than his flaming red hair, he looked a lot more like his mother Angelina. He had a rather soft expression, and his Uncles often said it was better that he didn't look more like his father, though why Fred was never able to understand.

Albus and Rose, for their parts, were avoiding James like the plague, not wanting to give him any extra opportunity to tell them about how they were never going to be in Gryffindor. Their own doubts were bad enough without having to deal with increased taunting about how they were either unworthy or unsuited to be in Gryffindor from James.

Hugo and Rose, followed a few steps behind, both looking quite upset and as though they were going to cry. It had to be rather tough on the pair of nine year olds to have to see their older siblings getting all excited about being able to go to Hogwarts but not being able to go themselves. For Lily, who was now going through the experience for the second time, it was even worse! The two shuffled along, conversing somberly, ignoring the antics of Roxanne Weasley.

Roxanne Weasley, the eight-year-old sister of Fred Weasley, had inherited many of her father's genes in terms of appearance, including his red hair and freckles, but in all other respects was very different from her male family members. She didn't have even the slightest desire to break rules, and preferred instead to be nice to people, something her father found appalling!

* * *

The families went first to Madam Malkin's which, surprisingly was not particularly crowded, however it still took quite some time to get three children fitted for entirely new sets of robes. Thankfully, James had not grown much over the past year and his old robes would still fit him, or the families would have been in there even longer.

While the others were getting themselves fitted, James interchangeably talked to either Fred or Rose, who was somewhat uncomfortable talking to James at the moment, about whether they thought that the Chudley Cannons had a chance at the Cup this year; something that Fred (an avid fan of the Tusthill Tornadoes) found laughable, while Rose (who also supported the Cannons) thought to be entirely possible.

James' debate with Fred over the Cannon's 'improvements' to their team over the summer were interrupted by the sight of Albus stepping down from the stool where Madam Malkin had been fitting him for robes. Unable to restrain himself, James shouted across the shop, "Excuse me Madam, you may want to add some green trimmings to those for our little Slytherin here." At which Albus immediately grew beat red and shouted "I am not!"

James was too busy laughing to notice that his brother was struggling not to throw something at him; it was funny how much the possibility of being Sorted into Slytherin scared his little brother.

The Potter-Weasley family then stopped at the Apothecary, where James, Lily, and Hugo elected to stay outside rather than deal with the rancid odor of the potions shop. The year before, James had found the shop fascinating, however a year of seeing just how pointless and boring potions making really was had turned him off the shop's allure. Besides, even if you were interested in that stuff, that place really stank!

Hugo and Lily eagerly allowed James into their quiet conversation about their favorite musical groups, as both viewed James as 'the cool older brother' who was great at everything: an impression that James did nothing to dissuade. Hugo seemed to have a liking for the muggle bands that his mother enjoyed, while Lily was favorable of Wizard Bands, as was to be expected.

"I'm telling you guys, once you listen to these guys you're not going to be able to tolerate any of that trash you listen to now!" Hugo argued, referring to the tee-shirt that his mother had gotten him from a muggle shop.

"Look Hugo, I know that you're obsessed with Muggle stuff just like Grandad," James said, "But I'm not going to listen to a group that's so bad they can't even spell the word 'beetle' correctly."

"Yea, I knew Muggles were stupid, but that's pretty ridiculous." Lily added, agreeing with her older brother.

"No, it's not a misspelling it's a pun!" Hugo said, and his argument got a little ridiculous after that. James wasn't really listening anymore; he wasn't all that concerned with his cousin's odd Muggle habits.

When the others finally emerged from the Apothecary the adults, other than Uncle George, were all glaring furiously at Fred: who was beaming in pride. James was about to ask what had happened, but it was then that he noticed that Roxanne's skin had turned a vibrant shade of yellow.

James could not help himself, he burst out laughing, staring at Roxanne as though her change in skin color was the funniest thing that he had ever seen in his entire life. Only Hugo joined in with his laughter, but James could tell that Albus and Rose found it just as funny: they had probably had their laugh while they were still in the shop.

"Be quiet James!" his father said, "This is not a laughing matter! We're not sure if we're going to be able to change it back!"

If James' father had thought that this was going to make his son calm down he was sorely mistaken. On the contrary, the idea of his cousin spending the rest of her life purple-skinned struck him as even more funny, and his fits of laughter redoubled.

"Are you serious?" James asked between fits of laughter, the whole idea leaving him all but speechless from laughter. He was laughing so hard that he was almost crying, rather fitting considering that unnoticed by James, Roxanne actually _was_ crying.

When they went to Flourish and Blotts, James wasted no time in leading Fred to the back of the shop where the two boys went looking for the curse-book that James had found the year before. They couldn't find it, but Fred did find a book entitled A Beginner's Guide to Curses and Hexes which James immediately pried open. However, they did not have time to read more than the first page before James' mother found them and snatched the book from their hands.

"James Sirius Potter, what on earth do you think you're doing?" his mother yelled, causing James to cringe: whenever his mother resorted to middle names it meant that he was in serious trouble! Fred seemed to realize this as well, as both boys began backing up until they hit the bookshelves behind them, as though hoping they could just melt through the walls.

"I have told you time and again that these kinds of things are going to get you nowhere in life! Why do you insist on doing nothing but causing trouble at Hogwarts? You're such a smart boy, but you're not going to get anywhere by focusing on things like this!"

Her rant went on for several minutes, during which time James sincerely wished that he had his father's Invisibility Cloak so that he could just disappear. Unfortunately, James' father had no intention of giving him the Cloak any time soon, and if James tried to just steal it like he had stolen the Marauder's Map his father would blow a gasket. And while Harry Potter was usually very calm and collected, when he blew a fuse he was twice as dangerous as his wife!

Albus, unfortunately, had heard the entire thing and he was sure to let James have it once they had left the shop.

"My my little Jamie, you have been a naughty boy haven't you?" his brother chided, grinning at the idea of his brother getting into trouble for once. "Maybe next time you should make sure that mum isn't hovering over your shoulder before you open a book explaining how to cast dangerous curses."

"If you don't shut up Al, I may be tempted to use some of those dangerous curses!" James growled, taking far too much pleasure in the terrified look on his brother's face. James' failure to learn any good curses from the book he had grabbed had annoyed him far more than it should have. Now how was he supposed to jinx those nasty older Slytherins like Remington Parker when they tried to mess with him? 'Petrificus Totalus' was a useful spell and all that, but it could only get you so far.

* * *

Unlike James, Al Rose and Fred were not willing to wait until the afternoon to head to Ollivander's, by far the most fascinating shop in all of Diagon Alley. It was there that Witches and Wizards, young and old alike, could purchase their wands: the most important object in the magical world. James could remember when he had been there the year before purchasing his own wand: which was Oak and had a Phoenix Feather Core.

Mr. Ollivander had said that James' wand was one of three known wands that had been crafted from wood taken from the ancient 'Tree of Magic', and held some great power of fate or destiny or something. Though James usually liked to brag about anything that made him special or important, he had not told anyone about what Mr. Ollivander had said to him. For some reason, it had seemed to him that no one should know except for him. Well, except for his father of course; he had been standing right there and had heard the whole thing.

As the rather large group entered the shop, James' hand subconsciously drifted to his own wand, which was buzzing with energy in his pocket as though it knew where it was. As James carelessly fingered the strip of wood in his pocket, Al Rose and Fred fretfully stepped up to the counter.

Mr. Ollivander, as always, made a rather impressive entrance, appearance, walking up from behind them and sending shivers down James' spine. "Ah, quite the trio that I have in front of me today: I always do enjoy a challenge, and you Weasleys have always been tricky customers. And you Potter men," Mr. Ollivander paused to laugh as he stared directly at James and his father, "Well, I've learned never to expect ordinary things from you."

Shaking his head he said "Well, let's start with the young lady shall we?" gesturing for Albus and Fred to take a step back from the counter while he worked with Rose. Unlike when James had purchased his wand the year before, everyone remained gathered around the counter in a small semicircle. In many ways James was relieved that his experience had not been like this, he would have felt even more awkward accepting his wand from Mr. Ollivander after his explanation in front of so many people.

It only took two or three attempts before Mr. Ollivander found a suitable wand for Rose; Hawthorn with a Unicorn Tail Hair. While James thought he heard a far-off note of perfect clarity, he did not feel the same rush of power that he had felt when he had been chosen by his wand. Perhaps it was because of the power his wand held, or maybe it was just that only the Witch or Wizard being chosen could feel it.

Fred was next, he took slightly longer than Rose, but still not nearly as long as James had taken. Of course, it might have taken a bit longer than was strictly necessary as Fred admitted after the sixth wand that he had been trying to break something every time he had picked up a wand. In the end, Fred was chosen by a Birch wand with a Dragon Heartstring Core.

Finally came Albus, and James' interest heightened: what would happen when his brother was Chosen by his wand? Would his brother's wand be similar to his own? He doubted it, there wasn't another wand out there like his!

Albus, like James, was taking a very very long time for Mr. Ollivander to find a suitable wand for. The pile of wands that Albus had gone through was already two times bigger than Fred and Rose's combined when Mr. Ollivander paused looking not at Albus, but at James.

James felt everyone in the shop, including Albus, turn to stare at him, all wondering why Mr. Ollivander was staring at him so intently. James thought he knew, but the very idea was so crazy that he couldn't even begin to consider it.

"No…but perhaps." Mr. Ollivander said before drawing a wand out from underneath the counter. "After what happened last year I brought this one out in case…but it can't."

Without another word he handed the wand to Albus, and immediately James felt the rush of power emanating from his brother as a ray of light seemed to emanate from nowhere. Mr. Ollivander, once again, seemed in shock.

"You Potters are an unbelievable lot, you know that?" Mr. Ollivander said, dumbfounded, before saying to Albus. "Mr. Potter, this wand is made of Oak and contains a core of Dragon Heartstring. But it is not an ordinary wand, not by any means! In times long before the Founding of Hogwarts, an ancient and powerful group of Wizards created a number of extremely powerful wands from the Tree of Magic. Only three are known to have survived to this day. In my time I have managed to acquire by two of them, one of which now rests in your palm."

Everyone in the Shop grew silent at this revelation, everyone that is except for Albus. The younger Potter immediately turned to James and waved his wand around saying "Yea, you hear that Jamie? Not feeling so tough now."

Before James could answer, Mr. Ollivander shook his head gravely and said "I would not be so quick young Mr. Potter. For you see, the most curious aspect of this whole regard is that the second wand is in this Shop right now. And it is sitting in your brother's pocket!"


	4. Chapter 4: Summer Sucks

Chapter Four: Summer Sucks

The three families split up after leaving Ollivander's, the Potters stopped by Eeylops Owl Emporium to get Albus an owl, just like they had gotten one for James the year before. After picking up Albus' owl, the five Potters had returned to Grimauld Place where James was immediately cornered by his mother and brother.

"How could you not tell us about this James?" his mother demanded, her expression both one of anger and hurt. James could tell that she was more upset that James hadn't told her something like this than anything else. When James had been younger he had told his mother about everything, but the older he got the more and more he started to drift away from his parents and become more independent.

While this was to be expected of a boy approaching his teenage years, his mother was having a very hard time accepting this. "I'm sorry mum, I just…" but James was not given the time to finish explaining himself, as his mother was on him once again.

"I thought you trusted me James!" she cried, "I thought you knew that you could come to me with this kind of things! I'm your mother after all, don't you think that I had a right to know? Don't you think that your father had a right to know?" she demanded, at which point James and his father exchanged a fleeting glance.

In that glance James knew that his father was begging him not to tell his mother than he had known about the whole thing from the very start. If his mother knew, she would have been even more furious with the both of them for not entrusting her with something that important.

"Gin, leave James alone alright. He was probably too afraid about what we might think of something like that to come and talk to anyone." James' father said, causing his wife's wrath to turn upon him for a moment. "James did you tell anyone about this?" his father asked, "Anyone, any of your friends?"

Beginning to see the point that his father was trying to make, James answered honestly, "No, I didn't tell anyone. Nobody knew, not even the guys in the Dorm." It was the truth, he had never dared to mention what had happened in the shop to any of his friends. True the topic of wands had come up numerous times, but James had always been afraid to divulge the full story about his wand. As far as his friends knew, James' wand was just an ordinary Oak Wand with a Phoenix Feather Core.

"See Hun," James' father said, "it's got nothing to do with a lack of trust, James was just afraid to start telling people about what had happened, that's all." It amazed James how good his father was at defusing his mother's horrible wrath. Normally when she got upset about something there was no comforting her, but when James' father had finished speaking his mother immediately enveloped James in a hug and apologized for ever doubting him.

"I'm sorry Jamie, I should never have said that you didn't love me enough to tell me. I was just, well, I don't know what I was. I guess I was afraid that I'm losing you. You're just getting to that age and…" Ginny Potter stopped talking, as though unsure of what she had wanted to say, and left the kitchen leaving James feeling even more confused than he had been before. What age was he getting to?

Albus, who had remained silent the entire time finally brought himself to say something, "That's really weird." He said lamely, seemingly unable to articulate himself better: an anomaly for Albus who was usually very good with words.

"Yea, I know." James said, drawing his wand and saying "Here, lemme see yours."

The two boys exchanged wands, and James looked at his brother's closely. Albus' wand was a tad bit shorter than his, and the coloration was also completely different. The grips on the two wands were also crafted in completely different manners. Had Mr. Ollivander not said so, James could never have guessed that the two shared such a connection.

"Well," Albus said, seemingly sharing James' thoughts, "At least we don't have to worry about getting them confused." Both boys laughed, but neither were very convincing as both were having the same frightened thoughts: both boys were wondering why they of all people had been destined for this wand, and what it was going to mean for them in the future.

* * *

James for one, was passing the rest of summer holidays in the most entertaining manner possible: namely by continuing to torment his brother about the possibility of him being Sorted into Slytherin. It, amazingly, was far easier than James had anticipated, he hardly needed to hiss in his brother's ear in order to make the younger boy go running off in near hysterics.

James couldn't see why Albus was so afraid of being Sorted into Slytherin, perhaps it was because of his second namesake: Severus Snape. James, thankfully, had been named for two Gryffindors and had only once had even the slightest of doubts about where he was going to be Sorted.

Towards the middle of August, Teddy Lupin started hanging around Grimauld Place nearly every day: much to the delight of James and Albus, both of whom idolized the older metamorphmagus.

The two boys constantly fought over Teddy's attention, and this summer was no different; however James incessant teasing of Albus seemed to be drawing Teddy towards the older boy: though Albus continually begged his idol to stop his older brother from tormenting him.

Occasionally, Teddy would step up and try to get James to leave Albus alone, but for the most part he was quiet about the whole thing. He seemed to find the whole thing just as funny as James did, but was afraid to openly show his amusement for fear of upsetting the younger Potter boy.

"James, can you just lay off for a little bit." Teddy said, sounding more conflicted than forceful as he half-heartedly tried to act like the more mature and responsible adult that he was. Unfortunately, though he was 18 years old, he still had the heart of a twelve year old and was unable to bring himself to tell James off.

"Way to stick up for me Teddy." Albus said in a small quiet voice, near the point of tears because his hero wasn't standing by him and protecting him from his mean older brother. In his defense, Teddy was in a tough spot. He could not fully side with either of the boys without devastating the other and he knew it. But at the same time, he resented the fact that there was so much being heaped on his plate. Was it really his job to keep the two Potter boys happy?

With an overly dramatic sigh, Teddy said "Alright look: James you're being a bit of a prick, but Albus you really need to get a grip!"

Both boys stared at Teddy as though he had just suggested that they try and mate a dragon and a cat and see what would happen. Somewhat taken aback, Teddy added "Well I mean come on guys. James, you're really just taking this whole thing way too far, it stopped being funny a month ago. But really Al, you need to have a sense of humor!"

Both Potters stared at Teddy as though he had just slapped him in the face. To them, Teddy's attempts at mediating the situation were worse than they would have been if he had completely sided with the other boy.

"Well!" James exclaimed, "When did you get all responsible? Did you lose your sense of humor the day you graduated or something?" James exclaimed, as Albus simultaneously said "I thought that you were my friend Teddy! Friends don't treat each other like this? Why can't you take my side for once?"

Teddy's hair began to droop and turn a rather sickly bluish color, the way it always did when Teddy started to get upset. Despite himself he couldn't help but feel like he was letting the younger boys down: he had always felt as though it was his job to be there for both boys, but now he wasn't able to do that for either because he was trying to help them both at once.

* * *

Though both boys had acted mortally offended by Teddy's words, they both seemed to take his statements to heart over the next few days. James' tormenting of his younger brother almost completely stopped over the next two weeks, and during those times that James did slip up and begin torturing his brother, Albus was somewhat cooler about the whole thing.

About a week before Term was scheduled to start on the First of September, James' friend Jeremey arrived at Number Twelve Grimauld Place. The arrangement had been made by the two friends some months beforehand as Jeremey, who lived in Canada, had nowhere to stay during the week in between when he arrived in London to purchase his school supplies in Diagon Alley, and when the Hogwarts Express left Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on September First.

So, Jeremey was to be spending the last week of summer at the Potter residence, something that filled James with excitement; though he had frequently hung out with his other friends: Zach Tolentino and Andrew Knight, it had been two months since he had last seen his best friend.

Like when James' friends had been at his house the year before for Christmas, Jeremey was going to sleep on the couch in James' room. At first, the plan was for Albus to join them in James' room, but that plan had been abandoned after the first night when James and Albus had nearly burned down half of the house.

In James' defense, the whole thing was an accident. James and Albus had been planning to shave off Jeremey's long brown hair with magic while he slept, something that they probably would have been better off doing the old fashioned way: with a pair of scissors.

The spell that the boys had devised did not exactly work out exactly the way that they had planned however, and had instead caused a spark of flame to spring from James' wand and light the carpet on fire! Afterwards, all three boys had found the whole thing to be rather funny, but James' parents had decreed that James and Albus were never going to share a room ever again: even for a single night.

Every couple of days, one of James' other friends would stop by and hang out with the other boys, Andrew and Zach usually, but Jason Malloy and Christian Kennedy also stopped by once or twice.

Then, two days before September the First, Andrew and Zach were both at James' house and the subject that had been tabooed for the entire summer was finally mentioned: the fight in the forest.

Once the subject had been broached the four friends, with Albus listening on intently, addressed the thing that James had been wondering about all summer: the Magical History Movement which had been responsible for the entire affair in the first place.

Zach was of the opinion that the Magical History Movement, or the MHM as they were often referred to, was not going to be a problem to anyone anymore, but the other boys were not quite so convinced.

"I'm telling you, that woman _had_ to be their leader!" Zach insisted, "There's no way that they're coming back from something like that, it's over for them!" the round-faced boy insisted, confident that there was no way that anyone was ever going to revive that cursed organization that had caused them so much grief the previous May.

"I don't think so Zach." Andrew said, "Before we were attacked there was some guy there who seemed to be in charge: and he was talking about how he was going to leave because he wasn't needed there anymore. He's probably their leader."

James agreed saying "I don't think we've heard the last of these morons! I think that they're gonna be back sooner or later. But it's not really our problem is it?"

The others looked at him in shock, as though they did not believe the words that they had just heard.

"Well," James protested, "Isn't that what the Aurors are for? We're just a bunch of kids! We only survived out of luck, so thanks but no thanks, I don't want to tangle with these guys again!"

"I don't think we're gonna have a choice in the matter Jamie." Albus said, at which the other boys laughed, Jamie … honestly, James was going to have to have a talk with Albus about referring to him by that name in front of people! "I think that we're gonna get caught up in this whether we want to or not." Albus did not elaborate but merely tapped his wand on the table pointedly, a moment that would have seemed meaningless to the others, but to James made perfect sense:

It was just like Mr. Ollivander had said: some great destiny awaited them, whether they liked it or not.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to keep Reading and Reviewing! THANK YOU so much to everyone who's reading and supporting this Fanfiction.**


	5. Chapter 5: September 1, 2017

Chapter Five: September 1, 2017

Though it was only early September, autumn was already in full swing. The morning was alive with the sights and smells of a crisp fall morning: with trees full of leaves in shades of red and gold. In King's Cross Station, two dark haired boys walked down the Platform arguing with one another while their parents pushed their trolley's behind them. Following a few steps away way a teary-eyed little girl, begging to be allowed to go to Hogwarts as well.

James, however, was not concerned with his sister's whining, he was too busy trying to exact a little more sweet satisfaction out of torturing his brother with sly comments about his probability of being Sorted into Slytherin.

In reality, James highly doubted that his brother would be Sorted anywhere but Gryffindor, how could he, but it was still a lot of fun to taunt the younger boy. So as he walked past his younger brother he could not stop himself from hissing in his ear like a snake.

"I _won't_! I _won't_ be in Slytherin!" Albus cried indignantly, causing his mother to scold him once again for tormenting his brother. "James, give it a rest!" she said, clearly tired of listening to the two continuing to fight.

Never one to back down from anything, James slyly remarked with a grin "I only said he _might_ be, there's nothing wrong with that. He _might_ be in Slyth-" but the death gaze emanating from his mother caused James to immediately shut his mouth.

As they approached the barrier separating Platforms Nine and Ten, James took his trolley from his mother and glanced cockily back at his brother as if to say 'watch this!' and took off at the barrier at a run. Unlike the year before, he did so without the slight nagging fear that he was going to slam into the wall, and immediately passed through.

Not waiting for his family to catch up, James went looking for Jeremey, who had tactfully chosen to walk ahead of the Potters when James had started messing with Albus. It took James only a few minutes to find the Canadian boy, who was already talking to their other friends Andrew and Zach.

"Hey guys!" James said, eagerly stowing his trunk and owl, Stella, aboard the Hogwarts Express. "Ready to get outta here?"

Zach and Andrew mumbled something about having to say goodbye to their parents, and Jeremey said he wanted to try and find someone before they got on the train anyway, so the four boys split up for the time.

James decided to go try and find his family again, but instead noticed Teddy Lupin talking to Victoire, which surprised James as Teddy was no longer a student at Hogwarts. James was going to walk by, but then he saw Teddy lean forward and begin snogging his cousin, and so had to say something.

"Oi, Teddy!" James called out, completely unaware of the awkwardness of what he was doing, "What are you doing?"

Teddy and Victoire immediately leapt apart, and Teddy's hair began turning red, as it did when the boy was embarrassed … or angry, at the moment James could not tell which one it was. "Dammit James!" Teddy shouted, "You're impossible, you know that? I just came to see Victoire off, now get lost!"

Not needing further prompting, James rushed off towards where he remembered leaving his parents, filled with the immediate desire to tell someone what he had just witnessed. When finally he found them, Uncle Ron was (rather obviously) warning Rose that she was not to get too friendly with Slytherins like Scorpius Malfoy.

"Hey!" James shouted out, shoving Lily aside so that he could share the enormity of what he had just witnessed. "Teddy's back there!" he said, pointing in the general direction of where he had seen the older boy, out of breath from his excited sprint across the platform. "Just seen him! And guess what he's doing? _Snogging Victoire!_"

The reaction that James had been expecting, one of general shock where everyone gasped and said things like 'surely not' and demanded for proof, never came. Instead, to James' immense disappointment, everyone just stared at him blankly, as though what James had said was of little or no importance.

Feeling as though he had not instilled in them the significance of what had just happened, he said again "_Our_ Teddy! _Teddy Lupin_! Snogging _our_ Victoire! _Our _cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing-" he began to explain, but he was interrupted by his mother.

"You interrupted them?" she asked, shaking her head and saying to James' confusion "You are _so_ like Ron-"

But James was not going to wait for his mother to finish, as he continued "-and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away." But still, no one was gasping in shock. What was wrong with these people?

"He's _snogging _her!" James said again, as though they had not heard or understood him the first seven times he had said it.

But still his parents were acting annoyingly calm about the whole thing, as though it happened every day of the week and was no big deal at all. However, at his father's 'suggestion' that Teddy just move in with them and be done with it, James leapt up again.

"Yeah! I don't mind sharing with Al-" he began, forgetting already about how they had almost destroyed the house the last time that had happened, "Teddy could have my room!"

However, James' father clearly had not forgotten the events of the previous week, as he firmly told James that there was no way that he was ever letting the two boys share a room ever again.

Then it was time to get back on the train, and James' parents were getting annoyingly sentimental again: "Don't forget to give Neville our love!" his mother said as she hugged him goodbye.

"Mum! I can't give a professor _love!" _James insisted indignantly, rolling his eyes at his mother's insistences that Neville was practically another one of his Uncles. "Outside, yeah, but at school he's Professor Longbottom, isn't he? I can't walk into Herbology and give him _love_…"

James shook his head, unable to believe that he had such stupid parents, did they have any common sense at all? Rolling his eyes again, he kicked his brother playfully and said "See you later Al. Watch out for the Thestrals." Laughing as his brother fearfully shouted "I thought you were invisible? _You said they were invisible!_"

Allowing his mother to kiss him goodbye he gave his father a quick hug goodbye and hopped on the train, leaving his brother to cry to their parents about the 'big bad scary Thestrals,' as if they were anything to worry about.

As he boarded the train, James found Andrew first, and then Zach and Jeremey shortly after. The four boys set out looking for a compartment, and soon found the rest of their large group sitting in one of the train's larger compartments.

Nick Aten, Jason and Erin Malloy, and Paul O'Reilly were the Ravenclaws of the group, and Christian Kennedy and Dwayne Powelly made up the Hufflepuff portion of their gang. While Leon Bartlett of Slytherin House had sat with them on the train ride back to London the year before he was not present in the compartment, perhaps he had thought better of trying to hang out with Gryffindors over the summer.

"So, everyone have a good summer?" Erin asked, just as the compartment door slid open. James turned to see who was entering and frowned when he saw Albus Rose and Fred looking in at them.

"Wait here guys." James said as he walked to the door and shut it behind him. "What do you want Al? You can't sit here!"

"Why not?" his brother protested, "There's more than enough room! And what's more important than family?" Fred nodded in assent, and Rose chipped in "Yea James, why are you being such a jerk?"

"Look guys," James said in frustration, "You've gotta make your own friends alright? It's OK if you want to hang out with me and my friends every now and then, but you're going to need your own friends too OK? And you're not going to make them by sitting around with me!"

Pointing to a group of First Year students who were entering a Compartment three doors down, James said "Why don't you go sit with them?"

To James' relief Al didn't argue and just sighed and hunched his shoulders as he walked away from the older boy, visibly disappointed. Once Albus had left though, James' cousins gave up as well and followed him towards the compartment.

Reentering his own compartment, James mumbled "Sorry about that guys, they won't be bothering us anymore." Andrew had stood up and was staring out the compartment door intently for a few moments before sitting down and saying "Oh good, my sister's sitting down with them, thank god!"

James tried to remember the name of Andrew's sister, and asked "Julie, right? Kinda short, brown hair?" Andrew nodded and said "Yea, and she's the most annoying little kid in the entire world! You've got it easy James, I mean, at least Al is kinda cool! And don't even get me started on Julian!"

Julian was Andrew's younger brother, he was only eight years old and was an even bigger whiner than James' sister Lily.

"Don't you think that maybe you guys are being a little mean, I mean they are your family after all?" Jeremey interrupted, much to the amusement of James, Andrew, and basically everyone in the compartment who had a sibling.

"Sorry Jer, but you just can't understand." Andrew said. "Yea," James added, "You're an only child, you just don't get it!"

Jeremey crossed his arms angrily and muttered something about there not being anything wrong with that and from there the conversation was much more interesting than annoying siblings as Christian brought up Hufflepuff's plans to repeat as Quidditch Champions.

* * *

Albus grumbled angrily to himself as his brother sent him away from the compartment, sure he had to make his own friends, but couldn't his brother at least be nicer about it? But in any event, at least he had Rose and Fred, most people didn't have anyone.

There were already eight other first years in the compartment as they entered: five guys and three girls. Albus was happy to see that, unusually for him, he was not the shortest person in the room for once, as one of the girls, and two of the boys, looked much smaller than him.

The eight of them remained rather quiet for some time, in fact the train had already started moving before anyone had said anything. Finally, one of the boys, a taller boy with curly black hair, said "Alright, we're not going to get anywhere by just sitting here staring at each other so we may as well introduce ourselves!"

However, he didn't introduce himself, and just sat back down when no one else did either. Finally, Albus said "My name's Albus, Albus Potter." Several people in the compartment, including the tall curly-haired boy, gasped in shock when he said his last name. Albus was used to it at this point, after all, he was a carbon copy of his father. Even when he had been walking down the corridors he had heard voices saying "That's Harry Potter's son!"

"I'm Rose Weasley." Rose said, introducing herself when no one else was willing to start talking. After that, the other kids started to get more comfortable speaking.

The curly-haired boy who had spoken first was Darren Shindler, sitting next to him was Julie Knight who Albus recognized from the Quidditch World Cup the year before. Sitting next to Julie was a quiet girl who introduced herself as Kim Brady, who was taller than Albus and had long jet-black hair. To her left was Ace Carrington, one of the two boys who was shorter than Albus and had buzzed blonde hair.

On his other side was Ken Roselli, who was constantly messing with his long brown hair and seemed to think he was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Next was Albert Thatch, who seemed to already known Ken, and was a nerdy-looking boy with sandy hair and glasses. Next to Albert was Amy Flynn, an extremely short brunette girl who looked extremely bored. On his other side was Josh Harding, a tall boy with short curly black hair who seemed to have coordination issues as he had already fallen off his seat twice.

* * *

The First Years were starting to become more comfortable talking to each other when the Compartment Door slowly slid open, standing there in the doorway was none other than Scorpius Malfoy.

Though Albus had been told by his Uncle Ron that he was not to associate with scum like the Malfoys, his father had always told him that there was good in everyone, if he only chose to see it. And his father had told him that Slytherin House wasn't all that bad … maybe…

"Do you mind if I sit?" asked the blonde haired boy quietly, as though he was afraid of their answer regardless as to whether it was yes or no. Rose and Fred were looking at Albus expectantly, both waiting for him to yell at Scorpius to get out of their compartment, but he didn't. "Of course you can." Albus said, to the general surprise of everyone, Scorpius included.

The more Scorpius spoke, the more Albus realized that Scorpius was really not as bad as his Uncle was trying to make them believe. As a matter of fact, he was actually kind of cool: he and Albus were laughing at the same jokes.

The two were actually starting to get along quite well, until James decided to come barging into the compartment. Whatever he had been expecting, he had not been expecting to see his brother in the company of a sworn enemy like a Malfoy.

"Oi!" He shouted, "What are you doing, trying to pollute my brother's head with your Pure Blood Mania?" James asked accusingly, "Get out of here before I jinx you!" James shouted, causing the boy to dart from the compartment in fear.

Rather than be grateful, as James was probably expecting, Albus was furious. "What was that for James? He wasn't doing anything wrong?" Albus asked his brother indignantly.

"He's a Malfoy! What are you doing associating with scum like him?" James asked his brother. "It's a good thing I came to check up on you Al, you could do better than the likes of him for friends Al!" James said, before leaving the compartment again angrily.

No one said anything for quite some time after that, until finally Rose spoke "He really was nice." Rose said at last, "I don't know why James was so furious."

Albus did though, the Potters and Malfoys had hated each other for decades. It would be too much to ask to expect that to end now after their parents had tried to kill each other during the Second Wizarding War.

**Thanks for staying with me guys. More still to come. Including the all important question...where will Albus Severus Potter be Sorted? Will he be a Gryffindor? A Slytherin? Or neither? And what about Rose and Scorpius? Stay tuned to find out.**

**I'd also like to take this opportunity to do something I've meant to do for some time and thank my very good friend Josh who invented and inspired the character of Nick Aten, the only non-canon character in the series who is not my own creation.**

**Thanks for for following guys, be sure to review and keep reading! :)  
**


	6. Chapter 6: The Slytherin

Chapter Six: The Slytherin

James Potter was absolutely furious, so furious that he did not even notice the usual waves of attention that he was getting from passing students as the son of Harry Potter and the kid who had fought the Magical History Movement the previous May, attention that he would usually revel in.

What on earth was Albus, his younger brother, doing having around with a piece of lying scum like Malfoy? Everyone knew that the Potters and the Malfoys were blood enemies, why didn't his brother? What was his brother trying to prove by palling around with a kid who was obviously going to end up in Slytherin House?

James was still fuming when he got into one of the horseless carriages that carried the older students to the Castle, ignoring his friend's attempts to get his attention. "Come on James, you're taking this too seriously. I mean, Leon's a Snake, and he's not a complete jerk."

"Oh thanks." Leon said, hitting Jeremey jokingly over the head, "That makes me feel a whole lot better." Leon, contrary to James' beliefs, had wound up joining them on the Hogwarts Express, and it once again had surprised James that he had been able to carry on a conversation with someone from Slytherin House without wanting to strangle them.

"You know what I mean Leon." Jeremey said, "Look James, maybe Scorpius is different from his father. I mean, did you even bother to talk to the kid?"

James had to admit that he hadn't, but he wasn't going to say that out loud, especially not in the presence of another member of Slytherin House. Funny and cool though he may have been, Leon was still in some sense the enemy.

* * *

James filed into the Great Hall alongside the rest of Hogwarts' returning students, taking his seat at the Gryffindor Table, wondering whether or not the First Years had made it across the Lake. It was then that it occurred to him that, for all he knew, Albus was sitting in the same boat as Scorpius Malfoy being brainwashed about how 'great' Slytherin House was.

Now Albus was a smart kid, but he was also exceptionally gullible and trusting. What if he believed Malfoy's lies? What if Albus was actually Sorted into Slytherin? James didn't think that he would be able to bear the shame of having his younger brother in the House that he had expressed numerous times to hate with a burning passion.

How was he supposed to play Quidditch against Slytherin if his brother was on the opposing team? Was he to knock his brother off his broom? Jinx him and hate him if he managed to beat him? Besides, what would their family think if Albus was Sorted into Slytherin?

James was so caught up in this line of thought that he did not pay much attention to the Sorting Hat's song, not that it had changed all that much from the year before. While the words were different the message was the same: all the Houses should try and stick together and be friendly. Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen!

The Sorting began, mostly with names that James did not recognize: Biondo, Jade became a Slytherin, as did Carrington, Ace. Wait a minute, he recognized that Ace boy … dear god, he had been sitting with Albus too! How many Slytherins had Albus been sitting with?

* * *

Albus stood on line, beginning to grow more and more anxious. He wanted to be in Gryffindor, he wanted it more than he had ever wanted anything in his life, but he was afraid that he wasn't going to have the right traits to go there. He didn't feel brave or noble or courageous at the moment.

Kim Brady, the cute girl who had been in Albus' compartment was Sorted into Ravenclaw … OK, Ravenclaw wouldn't be all that bad would it? And then Ace Carrington became a Slytherin, much to Albus' shock. The boy had said not a single word for the entire train ride, and Albus had been sure that the boy was going to be a Hufflepuff.

Daniele Fleming became the first new Gryffindor, and Amy Flynn became Hufflepuff's first new addition.

"Grant, Luke" called Professor McGonagall, and a scared looking boy around Albus' height with brown hair that was messy enough to rival James' timidly went up to the stool.

"Gryffindor!" shouted the hat, which seemed to relieve the boy to no end as he was so excited he forgot to take the Hat off his head, and so he got halfway down the stairs before it fell off his head.

"Knight, Julie" Albus crossed his fingers for his friend, who he knew was also dying to get into Gryffindor House like her brother.

"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted without any hesitation.

"Malfoy, Scorpius" This was the moment that Albus had been curious to see, would Scorpius be enough of a break from his father to go somewhere besides the House of Snakes?

"Slytherin!" shouted the Hat, much to Albus' disappointment. He had been expecting as much, but it was still a letdown. Scorpius glanced back in Albus' direction and shrugged as he walked to the Slytherin Table, seemingly unsure as to how he felt about this.

"Potter, Albus"

The entire Great Hall grew silent within an instant as Albus strode forward and let the Sorting Hat slide over his eyes. This was it, his fate at Hogwarts would be decided in these next few moments. He was visibly shaking, unable to control himself as the hat began speaking to him.

_Ah yes, Albus Severus Potter. You Potters are always a pleasure to Sort, for I do love a challenge. You've got the qualities of a Gryffindor, but you know that don't you? But like your father there are the makings of a great Slytherin here as well. Either House would do well for you boy, you'll go far in either one: so I don't do this often but I'll leave the choice up to you._

Ordinarily, Albus would have immediately urged the House to put him in Gryffindor, but something was stopping him. The way that his brother had chased out Scorpius just because he was a Slytherin: he could prove that Slytherins could be good guys. But at the same time, he was afraid of what his family would say if he wasn't in Gryffindor. And besides, did he want to martyr himself so to speak just to prove a point?

His mental sparring, however, seemed to bore the hat, which said to him _Very well, I grow tired of this. If you cannot decide then I will decide for you._

Without giving Albus time to answer, the Hat screamed to the high heavens a single word, and from the second he heard it Albus knew without a doubt that the Hat had made the correct choice…

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat shouted, causing an explosion of cheering to erupt from the Gryffindor Table. "WE'VE GOT BOTH POTTERS!" thundered the Gryffindors, chanting as though it were a war dance.

At that moment, Albus realized that he was insane for ever believing that he would ever have been a good fit for Slytherin House: it was obvious that he belonged in Gryffindor, why had he ever even began to think differently?

* * *

Ken Roselli was Sorted into Hufflepuff and Darren Shindler to Gryffindor shortly after Albus, and a mousy haired boy named Wally Reese joined Kim in Ravenclaw House. There were a few more Slytherins, and a short boy who looked as though he would give anything to be anywhere other than where he was at the moment joined Ken and Amy in Hufflepuff. His name was Albert Thatch.

Then, there were only two First Years left to be Sorted: Fred and Rose. First up was Fred, who sauntered up to the Sorting Hat stool as though he had known for his entire life what the result was going to be. It quickly became clear that he was right, however, as the hat had barely touched his head before shouting "Gryffindor!"

Last was Rose, who had confided in Albus that she really wanted to be in Ravenclaw, despite what her father told her about being in Gryffindor. Albus was curious to see whether she would get her wish, or follow in her parents' footsteps. To be honest, Albus hoped it was the latter. He and Rose had always been extremely close, more like siblings than cousins, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with her if she was in Ravenclaw. Besides, if Rose was in Ravenclaw, who was going to be there for Albus when James and Fred were getting on his back, as they were sure to do?

The Sorting Hat took a very long time with Rose before announcing his decision, to a mixed reaction from Rose, but one of powerful certainty from Albus.

"Gryffindor!"

* * *

When the Sorting was over, James stood up from where he was sitting near the middle of Gryffindor Table, and walked over to where Albus Rose and Fred were gathered together near the end of the table.

"Hey, congratulations you guys!" James said, shoving Daniele Fleming out of the way in order to sit between Albus and Fred. The girl looked at Albus indignantly and then went to sit somewhere else: presumably somewhere that she would not be removed from her seat by some cocky Second Year Student who acted as though he owned half the Castle and didn't care enough to bother getting the other half.

"I must admit though I'm surprised Al, I thought for sure that you were going to Slytherin." James teased, deciding not to admit to his brother just how afraid he really had been that his brother was going to end up in the House of Snakes, as he liked to refer to them.

Albus, for his part, had already decided that he was never going to tell _anyone_ about his temporary madness when he had actually considered going to Slytherins. It was a lapse of judgment on his part, and he would not make such a mistake again.

"Oh please James," Albus replied coolly, "Like I was ever going anywhere besides Gryffindor." He retorted, now feeling much more comfortable and confident in himself now that he knew that he was in Gryffindor and not in Slytherin.

"Well, if you ever thought that I was going anywhere else then you're crazy James!" Fred told him, already leaning back with his hands folded behind his head as though he had been comfortably living there for quite some time.

Rose, on the other hand, looked conflicted, as though she had gotten what she had wanted but was no longer sure if it was something that she would really benefit from having. Though James and Fred did not notice, as they were too busy planning how they were going to turn Hogwarts into their personal playground, Albus knew that Rose was secretly somewhat upset that she hadn't been placed in Ravenclaw House.

"And you too Al, we're gonna need your help too." James added, awakening Albus from his pensive state of reflection. "What are you talking about James?" he asked drowsily as he swallowed a mouthful of chicken.

Laughing at his brother's stupidity, James said "Well to wreak mayhem upon the school with our never-ending pranks and rule breaking that's what!" Shaking his head sadly as though disappointed with his brother he asked "My god Al, how on earth do you expect us to make the Marauder's proud without your help?"

"Wait," Albus asked in a confused voice, "Who on earth are the Marauders?" Causing James to laugh at his brother's lack of knowledge about their grandfather's exploits at Hogwarts.

* * *

The Feast was great, but Albus could not help but think about Scorpius and Ace over at the Slytherin Table. After all, he had been so close to joining them there himself due to his insane momentary lapse of sanity. What were they thinking over at the Slytherin Table? Were they talking about similar things to those that he was at this very moment, or were they talking about things completely unrelated.

And what if he _had_ been Sorted into Slytherin? What would have happened to him then? Would his brother, his cousins, have ever wanted to talk to him again? Or would he have been isolated and ostracized from the rest of his family as a result?

Or would he have been sitting at the Slytherin Table, donning green and laughing at the stupidity of his family for thinking that Gryffindor was the best House? Did it really just come down to that? After all, it was easy to hate what you couldn't have, and Albus had not been sure until the very last minute…

But it was pointless to think about that, because he would never have fit in amongst the other Slytherins, he wasn't like them. He was a Gryffindor! He came from a family of Gryffindors! There was no way that he could ever have been a Slytherin! Could he?

Nope, he was a Gryffindor through and through, and that was the way that it was always meant to be.

* * *

As James trudged up to the Dormitories with the other Second Year Gryffindors he found the door that read 'Second Year Boys' and pushed it open, collapsing on his four poster bed. "Well, you gotta hand it to Hogwarts, they know how to have a Feast!" Andrew said cheerfully as he entered.

"Yea, you've got a point there." James said, feeling as though he had eaten enough to last him for the next month.

The boys did not talk all that much as they changed into their pajamas...an improvement over the year before when they had all collapsed fully clothed, and slipped off to sleep. Their dreams once again full of the corridors and passageways of the Castle in which they now once again slept.

**I really hate having the POV flip between James and Albus, but I really needed to show Albus' perspective during the Feast for it to work. From this point on though the story will be seen solely through the eyes of James. Of course, this is still only a draft, once I rewrite the REVISED versions of the first two books I might change that.**

**I should explain. Legacies and Bloodlines were written some time back, and I walked away from the project for a while. I then came back to it, and began writing the Third installation...it was also at this time that I found this site and started uploading my stories. However, by this time my writing skills had improved to the point where I decided that I didn't like the way the first two were written anymore. So after some brief revisions, I decided to just put them up as they were, with some revisions, and then come back to them after I was done with the whole series and rewrite them. So once the last book has been written I will be coming back to Bloodlines and Legacies and redoing them in greater detail and quality.**

**Thanks to everyone who has been reading and following, hope you liked it, and please keep following and reviewing.**

**I'd also like to say a few things at this point: first, I'm sorry if I offended some people who like putting Albus in Slytherin, but I've always seen him as a Gryffy. Second: we have not seen the last of Scorpius Malfoy by any means. And lastly, I know it may seem repetetive that I'm putting all the Potter/Weasleys in Gryffindor but rest assured that they will not all be in that House. :)  
**


	7. Chapter 7: What's in a Name?

Chapter Seven: What's in a Name?

The next morning, James awoke to the familiar sight of the first rays of light filtering through the window of the Boy's Dormitory. It felt good after a summer back at home to be back at Hogwarts where everything was just so much more exciting and magical. Only at Hogwarts could something as simple as walking back to your Common Room after class turn into something as exciting as an adventure in the grounds.

As the boys got dressed, James could not help but notice that Zach had gotten a lot bigger since the previous year: and he had also put on a lot of muscle … well, a lot of muscle for a twelve year old anyway. If the boy was planning on trying out for Beater, to replace Jay Carpenter who had graduated at the end of the last year, then he was putting himself in an excellent position to do so.

Jeremey and Andrew seemed no less surprised by the change in Zach, who had been the smallest of the boys the previous year. "Dude!" Andrew exclaimed, "Did you do nothing but work out all summer?"

True, Zach did not have that much muscle, but when you were twelve any amount of muscle at all seemed like a lot. And the change in Zach seemed to have come entirely out of nowhere.

Zach just shrugged uncomfortably and pulled his shirt over his head and fastened his robes before walking out of the Common Room saying "See you guys at breakfast, there's someone that I wanna talk to." But who exactly that person was he would not say.

When Zach left the Common Room the others just stood there for a long awkward moment of silence before continuing getting dressed and following Zach out of the Dormitory, all thinking that they should probably have done the same if they wanted to have a chance at keeping their place on the team, or in Andrew's case getting one.

* * *

At breakfast that morning, James spoke to his Dorm Mates about letting Albus and Fred into their group of pranksters. Jeremey and Andrew were all for the idea, but Zach was a little hesitant of making their group even bigger than it already was. Even with four people in their group, it was hard enough to keep themselves from getting caught every time they tried to do something together: but with six people it would be all but impossible.

However, James was not to be dissuaded, and both Jeremey and Andrew thought that it was a pretty good idea in any event so the plan was going to go forward regardless. "Besides," James pointed out, "For all you know they could back out of the Initiation."

It was a Gryffindor tradition that before any prospective First Years joined the circle of 'cool pranksters' that pretty much ruled the Common Room they were going to have to go through an Initiation Ritual that generally consisted of breaking a few rules and stealing something from a teacher. However, James had something much better in mind for his brother's Initiation.

"So Al, you looking forward to all the fun of classes and exams?" James asked his brother jokingly as the black-haired Potter boy sat down at the table. It was really amazing how alike those two boys looked, even though they looked so different at first glance. Though James had brown hair, and Al's was black, James' hair was so dark that it could pass for black on a day like this. In fact, the only thing that was keeping many students from getting them mixed up were the eyes. While Albus Potter had inherited his father's vibrant green eyes, James were a soft chocolate brown.

"Well…" Albus said, as though he were about to admit some dark and nasty secret. "As a matter of fact, I kind of am looking forward to my classes."

Sure that he had misunderstood his brother, James said "You mean like Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration right?" referring to the only two classes that James ever gave a damn about: the ones that involved lots and lots of practical magic.

Albus looked down at his sneakers, as though ashamed about what he was about to say, before admitting. "Well, actually James, I mean all of them."

James could not believe what he was hearing. He had expected Rose, his well-meaning but unfortunately bookish cousin, to be looking forward to classes, but Al? Albus Severus Potter? His younger brother and soon to be partner in crime?

Wait a minute? What did he care anyway? Albus could do whatever he wanted for all James cared, he had friends who were way cooler than Al could ever hope to be!

Quickly readopting his cool and uncaring attitude, James said "Yea, you would think that wouldn't you Al? God, I suppose that you and Rose are going to spend the whole year holed up in the library writing up study cards like the good little nerds that you are."

Albus' face began to grow red, and Rose looked at him expectantly, making it very clear that she thought that James' suggestion was a perfectly valid one and that she and Albus should do exactly that. Fred, for his part, guffawed into his cereal and sent chunks of food flying halfway across the table, much to the disgust of everyone present.

James grinned with satisfaction at the visible anger on his brother's face. "Oi shut up James!" Albus shouted, "Just because I don't fancy the idea of not being able to read when I'm 30 like _some_ people doesn't mean that I'm a nerd!" Albus' eyes narrowed angrily as he glared at his brother.

James rolled his eyes and got up saying "My gosh, look at the time! Class starts in just thirty more minutes! Come on Jer!" he continued, pulling his friend to his feet in mock panic "If we don't hurry all of the good seats will have already been taken!"

Jeremey laughed and followed James out of the Great Hall saying over his shoulder, "Yea, maybe if we're lucky we'll get to take _notes_ instead of all that boring wand work that Professor Wilkins usually insists on!"

Andrew and Zach remained sitting for another few minutes, looking away as though ashamed by the way that their friends had been acting. Albus remembered that James had mentioned that Andrew and Zach had been a little uptight when he'd first met them, which he had never understood as both boys had seemed quite cool.

Now he understood what James had meant, Andrew and Zach had the maturity level of a pair of normal twelve year old boys, whereas James acted as though he were still seven years old. Perhaps that was why he and Jeremey got along so well: they both acted as though they were five or so years younger than they actually were.

Finally, Zach and Andrew got up to leave, saying that they were going to be late for Charms if they didn't hurry. Andrew left the Great Hall wordlessly, however Zach lingered a moment longer to say something to Albus before he left.

"Look," he said, "don't mind what James says. Sometimes he can be a little…" Zach paused, apparently unable to decide exactly what his friend was, so Albus helpfully interrupted him.

"James is my brother, I know him a bit better than you." Albus said, perhaps a bit more nastily than was strictly necessary. Zach had only been trying to be nice to him, something that James did about as often as dragons allowed people to ride on their backs.

* * *

While Albus was able to, over the next few weeks, prove to the teachers of Hogwarts that he really was a studious boy, if a little mischievous, and not just a carbon copy of his older brother, Fred Weasley was having no such luck.

For one thing, his laid back 'I don't really care about any of this' attitude was not helping things all that much, but like James, Fred had the problem of being named after one of the most legendary trouble makers in the history of Hogwarts.

In reality, Fred would probably have ended up becoming a prankster anyway, as he spent way too much time hanging around James not to, not to mention his father wasn't exactly the best of influences, but Albus viewed it as a pity that he wasn't even given the chance to be a good student.

However, Albus' status amongst teachers as 'The Golden Potter' lasted only a few days. His status as a favorite of all the teachers ended when he got caught helping James smuggle food and butterbeer out of the kitchens on September 23rd for Jeremey's Thirteenth Birthday.

It was then that his teacher's realized that Albus was a good student, but with a nose for trouble just like his older brother. So while he wasn't exactly at the top of his teacher's list of bad students, he was no longer atop the list of good ones either.

Rose, on the other hand, was quickly turning into her mother right before their eyes. Her mischievous ways seemed to have completely abandoned her, and it was a rare sight to see her doing anything besides eating and studying. Even on the night of Jeremey's Thirteenth Birthday, a night which saw all of Gryffindor Common Room come alive, Rose didn't do all that much to join in.

* * *

In reality, there was really not much cause to celebrate: after all, in the Wizarding World, thirteen was just another birthday. But when you're the best friend of James Sirius Potter, and the Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, people tend to make a big deal out of minor events in your life.

Naturally, Jeremey was pretty quick to figure out that the party had little to do with him, and more to do with people wanting to get on good terms with someone who was on the Quidditch Team, and close to James Potter at the same time. However, he took it in stride, insisting that everyone present enjoy copious amounts of Butterbeer before the night was out.

In fact, James and Albus actually got into a contest to see which one of them could down more bottles of the stuff. As Zach pointed out the next morning, it was a good thing that Butterbeer was nonalcoholic because the last thing the world needed was two drunken Potter boys.

In retrospect, the Potter boys would have been the least of the world's problems: there was not a single person in all of Gryffindor House who didn't drink at least a bottle that night: even Rose stopped down long enough to try some. As Jeremey put it, the Party was more a 'Welcome back to Hogwarts' Party than anything else, and they should enjoy it. Admittedly, they had already been at Hogwarts for 22 days by that time, but who was counting?

OK, so maybe James _was_ counting.

* * *

"So, what do you reckon is going on with Rose?" James asked Albus as the two sat by the fire, each boy having downed at least a dozen Butterbeers by this point.

Albus shrugged and said "There's nothing wrong with wanting to do well James, just because you…"

"Yea yea, I know that!" James interrupted impatiently, not having time to waste with one of his brother's lectures about how it was important to learn. "But come on Al, you can't seriously tell me that you don't think she's gone a bit too far."

"Well…" Albus began uncertainly, glancing towards their cousin who, alone of all the Gryffindor students was reading a book in a corner.

"Exactly." James said with a smirk, but there was no humor in it. "I mean seriously, when was the last time she left the library! I'm starting to think the librarian sucked out her brain and is slowly turning her into a library-mind-slave!"

Shaking his head in frustration, Albus said "James how many times do we have to tell you that there's no such thing as…"

"Oh come off it Al," James cut his brother off, "You've seen that old…thing! If she didn't just spring out of the ground as a crotchety old woman then she must have been brainwashed!"

To James' disappointment, Albus was not convinced, "I think you've been reading too many of Uncle Ron's old comics." He said, a small smile playing around the edges of his lips.

"Yea, so says the bookworm of the Potter family himself!" James retorted, "Come on, first one to finish this bottle gets an added three Galleons."

Grinning ear to ear, Albus shouted "You're on!" raising the bottle to his lips he cried "Go!"

* * *

The next morning, just about everyone in Gryffindor House had done something the night before that they regretted having done, and the Common Room was still a wreck despite the best efforts of the House Elves.

James for one was still nursing a bruise on the side of his face, from where he had been punched the night before. On a dare from Jeremey he had gone up to a random Fourth Year girl whom he had never so much as spoken to in his entire life and kissed her on the cheek telling her that she should call him some time.

Unfortunately, though the girl had blushed furiously and said that she'd always known that James liked her, someone else had not thought so highly of James' move: namely the girl's actual boyfriend.

And so, several hurt feelings and one punch to the face later, James was telling Jeremey that he was going to get his revenge when the other boy least expected it.

"I'm going to kill you." James insisted, glaring at the laughing boy with an expression so fierce that many Gryffindors standing nearby had began to back away slowly.

James could not remember the last time that he had done something so humiliating, and he was going to get even with his best friend for this, sooner rather than later.

Struggling to keep himself upright as he rocked with laughter, Jeremey said "James, buddy, you could stab me with a knife and it _still_ would have been worth it!"

Practically seeing red, James snapped back "I'm still not ruling that out as an option!"

However, that was still not worse than what Albus had done. Convinced that he was actually drunk out of his mind, the younger Potter had climbed on top of the table and ripped his shirt off before his friends finally dragged him off and calmed him down.

Needless to say, it was a rather interesting night.

**Thanks for reading guys, please please please keep on following and reviewing. Even if it's just a "good Chapter, keep it up" the reviews mean a lot.**

**I'd also like to clarify something that someone pointed out in the last chapter, the character named Luke Grant who was sorted into Gryffindor. If you have not already seen so on my profile page, Luke Grant is not my name, it's just a penname. The character Luke Grant is not supposed to be/be-based-off-of me.**

**Thanks for all the support guys! :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8: Brooms and Betrayals

Chapter Eight: Brooms and Betrayals

It had taken James until the wild party in the Gryffindor Common Room to realize that Albus' desire to actually do well in his classes was not turning him into a complete book worm. Unfortunately, just as soon as he came to realize this, Albus managed to shatter his faith in him once again.

"What do you mean you're not trying out for the team?" James asked indignantly.

Albus looked shamefaced, as though even he was having doubts about what he had decided. "I dunno James, I just don't reckon I have much of a shot at making the team."

"That's bull Al!" James interrupted flippantly, "I can tell when you're lying, your ears start to go all red and you always look down at your shoes."

It was true, that was exactly what Albus was doing, unfortunately for Albus, James knew his brother far too well. Ironic when one considered how oblivious he was to other things.

"Now tell me why you're really not trying out." James demanded.

James was shocked that his brother had even considered the notion of not trying out for the Quidditch Team. After all, the two boys had been playing Quidditch together in their yard for as long as James could remember.

"Cause maybe I've got more important stuff on my mind right now!" Albus snapped, grabbing his books up off the Gryffindor Table, "We can't all just play stupid games all day like you James!" he said in a huff as he got up from the table and left the Great Hall with his shoulders hunched.

James just stared after his brother, shaking his head as though pitying the younger boy for some terrible misfortune that had befallen him. "Well, you guys are definitely trying out then, right?" he asked Zach and Andrew, neither of whom had been on the team the year before.

If either boy had been reconsidering their decision to tryout, James' fury immediately changed their minds, as both boys quickly nodded and said "Oh yea, totally."

"Well, at least some of us have our heads on straight." James grumbled. Despite how he professed to be unable to stand his brother, he had always dreamed of the two of them playing Quidditch for Gryffindor together: and unstoppable dynasty that mowed over the other teams year in and year out.

* * *

Quidditch Tryouts were held on a cool morning in early October, and while there were a large number of turnouts there were not quite as many as had been there the year before.

The new Gryffindor Captain was Alex Dellapina, a Seventh Year boy who had been on the Team for the last four years: he was a Beater. Other than Alex, there were only three members of last years team remaining: Gryffindor had lost three players to graduations, and would lose at least two more this year.

The holdovers from the previous year were Lena Roberts, a flaming haired Seventh Year girl who was a lightning fast Chaser, James and Jeremey. However, unlike Teddy Lupin, Alex was not making any promises.

"I don't care if you've been on this team for five years or if you've never been on a Quidditch Pitch before in your life. Everyone gets an equal shot and _no one_ is getting preferential treatment. So if you were on the team last year, your job is still up for grabs."

James and Jeremey nodded at this, it had been no more than they had been expecting, if they wanted to remain on the team then they were going to have to prove that they were still the best at their position. Lena, on the other hand, looked as though she had never heard something so insulting in her entire life.

* * *

In the end though, Lena had nothing to be upset about as she made the team after an exceptional tryout. However, she was outraged to find that she had been dropped down to 'Third Chaser' slot. After being 'Second Chaser' behind Teddy Lupin for so many years, she had assumed that the job would be hers by Seniority. Instead, she was playing third fiddle behind James and a burly Fifth Year boy named Mitchel Gate.

Alex would be joined at Beater by Zach Tolentino, who had surprised everyone during what was his first Tryout as he had been in the Hospital Wing the year before. The position of Keeper had been filled by a slight but quick Seventh Year named Nicholas Hayden, while Jeremey had earned back his role as Seeker.

Andrew, to his immense disappointment, had not made the team once again; although he had been told by Alex that he was his next choice in case of an injury … something that, unsurprisingly, did not cheer the boy up very much.

"I was twice as good as Lena." Andrew complained, "She only made the team because she's a bloody Seventh Year!" Andrew was in full on rant mode, he didn't blow his lid often, but when he did it was better to be very far away.

The door of the Dormitory swung open and Albus glanced in at them asking "What's with all the screaming? Darren's picked something up and he's trying to sleep."

"Picked what up?" James asked thickly, thinking that his brother had meant physically picking something up off the floor.

Albus rolled his eyes at his brothers stupidity and replied "A bug you idiot, I think it's the flu, but Luke reckons it's nothing serious."

"Oh…" James muttered, realizing that what he had said had been incredibly stupid. Trying to draw attention away from himself he said "Well, Andrew's ticked that he didn't make the Gryffindor Team: he thinks that he got cheated out…"

"I WAS cheated out!" Andrew interrupted, not bothering to lower his voice like Albus had said, "It was complete and blatant favoritism!" he shouted, his face growing red from anger and probably some embarrassment.

James turned away from Andrew and rolled his eyes before saying "I'm telling you Al, you should have tried out. You could easily have made the Team. I mean, can you at least tell me what's _so_ important that you had to skip tryouts? I mean, you love Quidditch, don't deny it!"

Albus merely shrugged, not really the answer that James was looking for, and said "Just stuff alright." James could tell that his brother was annoyed that he was trying to interfere in his life like this, but he was too annoyed to care. His brother was ruining his dream of an undefeatable Potter Quidditch Dynasty.

"Look James," Zach said, "If he doesn't want to tryout he doesn't have to!"

"Since when did you become such a nancy-boy?" James demanded.

"The same time that you pulled your head out of your arse!" Zach shot back, rising to his feet in outrage.

James had been about to shout back at Zach when Jeremey calmly mediated the situation saying "I think that James is suggesting that Albus _did_ want to try out, but didn't. And if that's the case I'm very curious to know why."

Albus remained mute, and paused only to show his brother a rather obscene muggle hand gesture before leaving the Dormitory, leaving them all to wonder whether or not James had a point.

* * *

When the night came for the annual First Year Initiation Ritual, James knew that his plan was going to have to be supported by the Seventh Years in the Common Room if he wanted to go forward with it. After all, it was they who had the privilege of deciding what task they were to set the First Years to.

So when James told Alex and Nicholas about his plan, he knew that their opinion would decide whether or not his plan would be allowed to go forward. If they didn't like it, or thought that they had a better idea, then that would be the end of that.

"This…" Alex said when James told him of his idea, "is without a doubt the most epic idea that I have ever heard in my entire life!"

"Definitely!" Nicholas agreed, "You've got a good head on those shoulders James Potter, just keep cranking out ideas like this and you'll do alright."

James was pleased that they had liked his idea, not only because it would be great to see the look on Albus' face, but also because it instantly made him cooler to have his idea accepted like that by the Seventh Years. Because once Nicholas and Alex went along with something, the rest of them would all just fall in line as well.

* * *

That night, as the clock approached midnight, the Gryffindors met in the Common Room to set the night's events into motion. Albus, Fred, Luke, and Darren … who apparently had gotten better over the last two days … were all going to go through with it. James had tried to convince Rose to do it, but the girl had adamantly refused, despite James' repeated pestering.

"Come on Rosie!" James pleaded, using his cousin's least favorite nickname, "Just give it a try! What do you have to lose?"

"Only my self-respect and dignity!" Rose had replied in a huff, gathering together her belongings as she stormed towards the Girl's Dormitory shouting "Do you honestly expect me to break that many school rules at once James?"

Honestly, James didn't even know the girl anymore!

"New Gryffindors," Alex said, "we have called you here tonight so that you can prove yourself as worthy new additions to our House. In order to prove yourselves, you must complete this task that we set before you now."

The silence seemed to stretch on and on for an age, no one spoke, everyone was waiting to hear what Alex was going to tell the First Years to do. James, who already knew, was still breathless, waiting to see how they would react.

Finally, Alex spoke, "You are to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room, and jinx the First Year Slytherins. By doing so you will prove to us that you are superior to those Slytherin scumbags, and worthy of being Gryffindors!"

James grinned victoriously at the look of outrage that crossed his brother's face. He had suggested this particular idea because; unbeknownst to anyone else, he had seen Albus and Rose hanging around with Scorpius Malfoy and a group of other Slytherin kids. But after this, he doubted that Scorpius would want to so much as see his brother ever again!

Of course, this was rather hypocritical of James, seeing as he had Andrew had been talking to Leon Bartlett earlier that very same day, but in James' mind the two were completely unrelated.

"Hey, some of those kids are our friends!" Albus said angrily, drawing looks of ire from all around the Gryffindor Common Room. Surely no Gryffindor would ever say such a thing about a Slytherin Student?

"They can't be your friends!" Alex roared furiously, "Slytherins are evil! Pure evil! And no Gryffindor is ever going to associate with such trash!" he said, spitting out the last word of his rant.

"But, we don't even know any jinxes!" Luke protested, at which the other First Years nodded furiously.

"No matter, we'll teach you some." Nicholas said.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, armed with a new supply of jinxes to use, the four Gryffindor First Years were thrown out of the Common Room and told not to come back until they had accomplished the task set before them. None of them had even the slightest idea of where to find the Slytherin Common Room, much less how they were going to sneak in and jinx them.

They had been wandering around the Castle for about twenty minutes, looking for any Slytherins wandering about that they could follow, when they heard a dull voice saying "I'm telling you Scorpius, the Gryffindor Common Room is definitely in one of the Towers."

"Shut up Ed! I know what I'm doing!" Snapped the familiar voice of Scorpius Malfoy. The Slytherin boy's voice sounding from just around the corner, the Gryffindors would not have to sneak into the Slytherin Common Room at all. But wait…they hadn't even wanted to do this!

"Scorpius, I don't know if this is a good idea." Said another voice that they recognized as belonging to Ace Carrington, the other Slytherin boy they had met on the train.

"You think I like this?" Scorpius asked, "You think I fancy the idea of jinxing my friends? No, I don't! But you heard what Remington said? He'd Curse us halfway to London if we didn't do it."

Albus exchanged a swift glance with Fred, who muttered, "I guess they got the same instructions that we did."

"Yea," said Darren, "But I always thought that this was a Gryffindors only kind of tradition." Apparently though, it was not.

As the Slytherins passed the corridor where the Gryffindors lay in wait, Albus saw the choice before him. He could either jinx the Slytherin students and betray his friends, or he could let them pass and accept that he'd be a loser for the rest of his life.

Talk about no right answer.

"So, they told you to jinx us too didn't they?" Albus asked, addressing the Slytherin First Years as he stepped out of the shadowed hallway that he and the other Gryffindors had been hiding in. One way or another, he had made his choice. He would not jinx his friend, or whatever Scorpius was.

Scorpius stiffened at the sight of him, as though half expecting to be cursed, but relaxed after it was clear that Albus had no intention of drawing his wand.

"Some people," He said dully, "Seem to have a problem with Gryffindors and Slytherins getting on. They expect us all to hate each other's guts."

Albus nodded, hating that he was expected to jinx the boys standing in front of him, several of whom he regarded as his friends. "It would seem that both our Houses have similar thoughts on the matter." Albus said coolly.

"So what do we do?" Scorpius asked simply. A simple question, but a difficult one to answer. Were they to jinx each other to earn the respect of their Houses, but lose any chance of friendship that they'd ever had? Or ignore the charges that they'd been given, but lose the respect of their House Mates?

"I tell you what we do, we jinx those good for nothing Gryffindors!" shouted one of the Slytherin boys, prompting Darren and Fred to draw their wands threateningly.

"Shut up Josh!" Scorpius hissed, "Nobody is jinxing anybody!"

"So what _are_ we going to do then?" The Slytherin boy, Josh, as Scorpius had called him, asked again, this time his voice betraying hints of anxiety and fear.

* * *

"Did you do it?" James asked eagerly as Albus and the other First Years clambered through the Portrait Hole, looking as though they had just been in the middle of two trolls trying to arm wrestle.

"Yea!" Albus said, "But you'll never believe it! They told them to do the same thing to us!"

James shrugged at this news, "They're always stealing our ideas, been doing it forever. But come on, what did you do to them?"

Albus grinned and said "We taught them a lesson that they won't soon forget. Let's just leave it at that."

James did not question his brother further, "Great job Albus!" he said, "I knew that you'd come around sooner or later. I know it sounds crazy," he began, pausing as though what he was about to say was the most ridiculous thing anyone had ever heard. "but for a while there I thought you might have actually been friends with Scorpius Malfoy!"

"Oh please, remember James, I'm the _smart_ one. Like I'd ever associate with trash like that!" Albus replied coolly.

James burst out laughing, as though the very idea of his 'fears' being realized was completely absurd, Albus somewhat reluctantly joined in, waiting for his older brother to let them be.

* * *

That night in the First Year Dorms, Fred turned to Albus and said "We should have just jinxed them you know."

Looking up at the ceiling as he lay in his four poster bed, Albus shrugged and said "I still think that we did the right thing. Notice that they didn't jinx us either."

"It's never going to work out Al." Luke said from the next bed, "You guys could never be friends, there's just too much bitterness there."

Albus shrugged, but did not reply as he pulled the curtains around his bed and closed his eyes. Maybe no one else thought so, but he knew that he was going to prove them all wrong. A Potter and a Malfoy could be friends, and two of them almost were.


	9. Chapter 9: Resepect at a Price

Chapter Nine: Respect at a Cost

Though the whole of the Gryffindor Common Room was abuzz with the story of how the Gryffindor First Years had jinxed the Slytherin First Years the night before, Albus still felt as though they were being given a rather short shrift by James. The older Potter boy rarely had any time for him, or Fred, or Rose; and Albus' other friends were lucky if they got James to speak to him for more than ten seconds in the course of a week.

In fact, it had taken James until Halloween to remember Luke's name, and learn that Darren was in fact not Muggle-Born, and so he did not need to explain every little thing for his convenience.

No, James preferred by far to spend the vast majority of his time with his own Second Year friends, and didn't have very much time for his younger family members, let alone their stupid friends. Of course, had James known that Albus' circle of friends included a pair of Slytherins it's doubtful that he would have showed the same lack of interest.

Still, lack of interest was still better than what would have happened had James known this. Had knowledge of Albus' allegiances reached his ears, he certainly would not have hesitated to hex each and every one of them. So it was probably with good reason that Albus saw no need to tell his brother that he was still socializing with Scorpius Malfoy and Ace Carrington.

While Fred was still rather hesitant to be hanging around with a pair of Slytherins, everyone else had gotten over the initial awkwardness of the situation. By late October Albus Fred, Luke, and Darren were spending almost as much time with Scorpius and Ace that James was spending with his Dorm Mates; the difference however being that James didn't know anything about it.

Several times the topic of conversation turned to how they were going to get James to stop from jinxing Scorpius and Ace into oblivion when he learned that his brother was befriending them. After all, James had a built in hatred of Slytherin House that seemed to extend to everyone but Leon Bartlett.

When Albus pointed out to James that his hatred of Slytherins was rather hypocritical considering that he had a friend in that House, James had dismissed his brother out of hand.

"You don't get it Al." James said impatiently, as though his brother were insisting that one plus one actually equaled three. "Leon, well, he's not a 'real Slytherin', if you know what I mean."

Albus had not responded, staring at his brother with that condescending expression that always set James' blood to boiling.

Sensing that his brother did not understand, James snapped "Well, he doesn't associate with the rest of them, if you ask me he should never have been a Slytherin in the first place, they all hate him over there."

It seemed that James was not going to see sense anytime soon, and so Albus was forced to continue to keep his friendship with the two Slytherin boys a secret.

* * *

James could not understand why his brother was being so distant lately, it seemed as though he spent all of his time alone. James had, like the 'nice' older brother he was, tried to get him to hang out more with Rose and Julie Knight, to get out more and make some friends.

OK, so maybe that had mostly because James was sick of having to deal with them all of the time. Andrew's younger sister was such a tag-along it was getting impossible to handle, and James was quick to jump to his friend's side when he expressed his annoyance with his younger sister. And Rose, well James was hoping that Albus could get her back to her old ways.

It was scary how depressingly boring Rose was being as of late. She, like James had teasingly suggested at the beginning of the year, was practically living in the library, and rarely did anything besides study. To their horror, she was turning into her mother right in front of their eyes, and neither James nor Albus liked the change in her.

They had both liked their cousin a lot better when she was more carefree and reckless like they were. It wasn't that they thought that she shouldn't pay any attention to school, well James DID think that but, it was more that they wished that she would spend less time studying and more time hanging out.

Julie on the other hand, was spending about ninety percent of her time tagging along behind her older brother in the hopes that she would eventually be welcomed into their group. A prospect that was unlikely at best, and in reality was all but impossible. Jeremey especially, said every day that she was really annoying, and none of the boys could stand her incessant tagging along.

* * *

On Halloween night, the same night that James finally remembered that it was 'Luke' not 'Lance' and that Darren came from a Half Blood Family, James resolved that it was time to have a little chat with his brother, a chat that he had been putting off for some time.

So that night, rather than go sit with the rest of his Dorm Mates, James found where Albus was sitting at the table and went towards him, taking his seat beside him to the great surprise of everyone present. Clearly they were all surprised that James had elected to sit away from the rest of his 'posse', as his Uncle George put it.

Occasionally, the four would coincidentally wind up next to Albus and his friends, but tonight James was there by himself, and he had sat there deliberately, which was glaringly obvious to anyone who bothered to look.

"Hey Al, what's been happening?" James asked, something that would have been an ordinary enough greeting if one forgot that the brothers had not spoken very much for the last two or three weeks.

"Erm, fine." Albus said uncomfortably, using a tone that was not comforting to James. Obviously his brother assumed that he wanted something or he would not have been sitting there. Admittedly James had an annoying habit of borrowing money and never paying you back, but this was different.

James tried to ignore his brother's suspicion, as he said, with visible discomfort "Look Al, I'm sorry that I haven't been talking with you all that much. I mean, you're a sappy git and everything, but you are my brother."

Coming from James Potter, that was extremely sentimental, though James thought that his brother was being a bit overdramatic by gaping at him like a fish out of water.

"Did you lose a bet or something?" Albus asked at last, "Is that why you're apologizing to me?" An understandable suspicion, James Potter didn't just go around offering apologies.

But James' level of compassion for the day, scratch that…for the year…had been used up. "Jeez, if I'd known you were going to be such a girl about it I wouldn't have bothered." James snapped, getting up from the table and returning to his usual spot between Jeremey and Andrew further down the table.

"What do you reckon that was about?" he heard Albus mutter as he walked away.

Luke said something funny, but James could not make out what it was. However, it must have been something amusing because Albus chuckled in amusement.

"Luke, trust me when I tell you that James doesn't just go around offering apologies. There's always something in it for him." Albus said loudly enough for James to hear him, his words displaying a confidence in his belief that made James bury his head in his right hand, this had not gone the way that he had tried. It just went to show, that's what you got for apologizing. He would make a note not to do so again in the near future.

* * *

Later that night, as the Castle was trickling out of the Great Hall after the Feast, James heard an unfamiliar voice saying "When Potter and his friends pass through here, that's when we'll get them!"

James froze, immediately preparing to double back around another corridor when he shook his head, no one would be stupid enough to try and jump him with his fellow Gryffindors nearby. No, they must have been talking about Albus.

Ordinarily, James would have stayed back to help his brother, you didn't mess with James Potter's younger brother. But after Albus had shoved his extraordinarily generous apology back in his face, he didn't owe the boy any favors.

As he glanced back over his shoulder, he saw his brother tensing up, and looking at him in desperation, waving his arms to try and signal something to him. It would seem that Albus had heard the boys too and was petrified by the thought of what was coming to him. Ha! Served him right. Maybe in the future he wouldn't be such a prat when James was trying to be nice to him.

Unfortunately for Albus, Luke and Darren had both left the Feast early, and Fred had wandered off at some point earlier. And while Albus was not exactly a poor spell-caster, he didn't stand a chance in something like this without any backup.

Then, the boy suddenly darted to the side and grabbed the arm of some blonde haired kid and began speaking to him frantically. Wait a minute…wasn't that…

"Hey James!" Andrew said, interrupting James' train of thought as he tried to get James' attention once again.

"Huh?" James muttered, returning his attention to his friends, surely he must have been seeing things. That was it, in his desire to justify his anger with Albus he was making things up.

"I'm telling you James, I'm not gonna do it!" Andrew said, jumping right back into the discussion about their latest prank.

"Nah man, you've gotta do it!" James said with a laugh to Andrew, who had been suggesting that James should set Professor Slughorn's robes on fire during their next Potions Class.

"I've already got Detention for trying to put his favorite hat into my Shrinking Solution." Andrew countered, "It's your turn."

James had been about to say something in reply when he heard a voice behind him shouting in his direction. Slowly, he turned around, just in time to see a jet of red light fly past him and slam into Andrew's chest.

* * *

Things went downhill really quickly, and even if James had wanted to he would have been unable to escape because the other kids had formed a wide ring around the dueling students.

Andrew was already unconscious, as was one older Slytherin boy who had been on the other side of the duel. Meanwhile, the standing students looked even worse than the ones who had been knocked out.

James had a bloody lip, and his face looked as though it had been clawed at by a cat as blood streamed down the side of his head. Jeremey seemed unable to stand, and was reaching for his wand which lay just beyond his grasp, while Zach was seemingly about to pass out, and it looked like his arm was bleeding badly.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of movement beside James, as a pair of figures burst out from the throng of students surrounding them.

"Impedimenta!" Albus cried, using one of the jinxes that he had been taught by the Seventh Year Gryffindors to use on the First Year Slytherins. The tall boy who had been dueling with James crumpled, caught unaware by the new entry to the fight.

As James looked dazedly up at Albus to thank his brother, he noticed the second figure that had burst from the crowd. Unable to stand, he pointed yelling "Al, behind you!"

But before Albus had a chance to turn around, the person behind him had already spoken "Stupefy!" cried the voice, his wand flicking towards the combatants.

But the spell did not target Albus, instead it flew from the caster's wand and towards the last standing Slytherin who was towering over Zach.

The person James had been pointing at, was Scorpius.

* * *

"I am aghast that you would resort to such low means!" Professor McGonagall was screeching, but surprisingly it was not James that she was yelling at. It was Remington Parker, the Slytherin who had organized the whole thing.

"What did you hope to prove? That you're big enough to beat up students five years younger than you?" she demanded, "Shame on you! One hundred points from Slytherin, and Detention for ALL of you! Now return to your Dormitories immediately!"

With a sigh, Professor McGonagall turned to face the rest of them. They were, for once, being reprimanded not in the Headmistress' Office, but in the Hospital Wing. James, Jeremey, Andrew, and Zach were all in Hospital Beds being treated by Madam Palumbo for the various injuries that had been inflicted on them by the older Slytherin students. Unfortunately, they had been unable to inflict any similar damage on their attackers.

"Well, I suppose I cannot give you Detention as you were acting in self defense." Professor McGonagall said slowly, causing James to grin victoriously "But I must tell you again that such behavior is not tolerated. If any of you try and exact some kind of brutal revenge on Mr. Parker, or Mr. Pearce, or Mr. Tucker then I will personally expel each and every one of you am I understood?"

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but he was sure that Professor McGonagall was staring directly at him, rather than at the group as a whole, while she said this.

The boys nodded grimly, Albus and Scorpius did so as well, just to make sure it was clear that they were not planning any revenge of their own: though James doubted that his brother would have known a good revenge scheme if it jinxed him in the arse.

"And Mr. Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said coolly, "You will be awarded Thirty Points, for showing that doing what is right, is more important than just blindly sticking to House Allegiances."

Staring directly at James, again, she added "And I believe that some of our Gryffindors would do well to learn that lesson as well." Before turning on her heel and leaving the Hospital Wing.

Turning his head to face Scorpius, which was a challenge considering the trauma that his head had just been subjected to, James said "So, you've been hanging around with my brother all year, haven't you?"

James hoped, prayed even, that Scorpius was going to say no. To tell him that what had happened was just a spur of the moment decision, but of course, no such luck.

"Yea." Scorpius answered in a small voice, as though fearing what James was going to do to him. Probably very wise of him, if he could stand, James would probably have jinxed the boy.

"And you never jinxed each other that night either, did you?" James asked, again already knowing what the answer was going to be, and not liking it. It had taken him until now, but he was finally starting to figure it out.

"No, we didn't." both boys answered together, Scorpius still looking fearful, but Albus looking defiant. For once, his brother was manning up and acting like a proper Potter should.

"Well then," James said, struggling with the next words, "I guess I was wro … that wasn't …" James was not accustomed to admitting his mistakes, it was something that he had always viewed as a sign of weakness.

"I was wrong." James said at last, "I guess Al's right, you Slytherins aren't all horrid twisted scum of the earth like Remington." James said, trying to sound kind but not pulling it off very well. Then, before his nerve abandoned him, he added "So for a low life Slytherin I guess you're pretty OK Scorpius."

Scorpius looked rather offended, but Albus clapped him on the shoulder saying "Trust me Scorpius, from James: that's practically an 'I love you'."

James started laughing, but stopped when it felt like his rib was going to cave in, fortunately Albus and Scorpius were there to keep it going. Boy oh boy, James was going to be hearing about this one for a while.


	10. Chapter 10: Advise From a Friend

**Sorry for taking so long with this update. College Applications and all that have left me without any time to come and post it up. Thank you all for your patience and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember to Review! I can't emphasize enough how much it means to me that you take the extra minute to leave behind your thoughts, good or bad.**

* * *

Chapter Ten: Advise From a Friend

When James was finally discharged from the Hospital Wing he started spending a lot more time around his brother and, by extension Scorpius. At first, James was still highly distrustful of the Slytherin boy, but over time they began to develop a 'I don't hate you anymore, but I'm still not ready to be your friend' relationship which, as Andrew put it, was definitely a start.

Leon and Scorpius, introduced to each other by James one morning, immediately hit it off. The two Slytherins seemed to have a lot more in common than James would have thought, which only made his previous hatred of Scorpius seem even more ridiculous.

Through spending more time with Albus, James was also spending more time with his cousin Fred, and Fred responded to this increased exposure to his older cousin by getting Detention five times in the next seven days. Now that he was spending more time around his trouble making older cousin, Fred seemed to think that the two were in a competition to see which one could cause the most trouble, a competition that James seemed to find hysterical.

Some of their pranks were childish, like the time that James changed the sign over the Library to say 'Ravenclaw Common Room', or when Fred had switched the Boys and Girls lavatory signs while there were already people inside.

Others though, were far more complex and elaborate, such as one that had involved Fred dying his own hair pink and blaming it on a number of Hufflepuff students thus getting them in Detention so that Fred could break them out of Detention and lead them to James, who was waiting with a crateful of Dungbombs.

Needless to say, that none of those Hufflepuffs smelt normal for the next month at the very least.

* * *

On the first of November, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were to play in the first Quidditch Game of the season, a Match which was sure to be interesting to say the least. Hufflepuff's Roster had not changed at all since their Championship the year before, and everyone was expecting them to have a very good chance of repeating their title.

Ravenclaw's roster had not changed much from the previous year either. They had replaced the graduating Amanda Reiner and Marcus Bridge with Aiden Walker and Jordan Rayes, both of whom had exceptional skill, but other than that their team was the same as their exceptional team from last year.

Both teams were expected to do very well in the upcoming season, and many said that the Match would be a preview of that year's Final. James, however, was not among their number. He was convinced that Gryffindor was going to win the Quidditch Cup that year, after coming so close the year before.

Scorpius and Leon had elected to sit with the Gryffindors rather than the Slytherins, which resulted in a fair bit of jeering from the Gryffindor section of the crowd.

"Traitor!" yelled an older student sitting just a few rows behind them, prompting James to snap back.

"So what if he wants to sit here? Slytherin isn't playing today!" James retorted, ignoring the fact that he himself had just recently been exactly like that.

"We're not talking about _him_!" came another voice from somewhere in that general area. "We're talking about you Potter! Sitting with the enemy, eh? I never would have thought it of you."

James turned back to face the Match in a huff, but he could not help but feel that he was indeed acting like a traitor. Just a few weeks ago he had berated his brother for ever thinking that Gryffindors and Slytherins could be friends, and now here he was sitting next to the son of his father's archrival.

"Just ignore them James." Advised Albus, who sounded as though he could not care less about what had been said, "People are idiots."

"Yea," James said seriously, "But who're the idiots here … them, or us?"

* * *

The Match was an exciting one, Christian was not playing like his usual self, but Hufflepuff was still playing exceptionally: after all they were the exact same roster that had won the Quidditch Cup the year before! But Ravenclaw was in control, amazingly but undeniably, the defending Champions were losing to the team that had finished dead last in the Quidditch Standings the year before!

A lot of it had to do with Ravenclaw's new Keeper: Jordan Rayes. Marcus was a good guy and all, but he didn't have half this guy's skill. But in all areas the Ravenclaw Team was showing improvement. After having an unheard of three First Year students on their team the last year, Ravenclaw's team was now benefitting from the gamble they'd taken the year before. Jason had, like Zach, filled out a lot over the summer, and Nick and Paul now both seemed to have realized at long last that they belonged on the Pitch just as much as everyone else.

"Three Galleons on Hufflepuff." James said to Albus, the Match at this point an even 60-60 score, so it could easily go either way.

Albus laughed, "Yea right, Ravenclaw's flying too well, I'll take that bet!"

"I'll put in three Galleons for Ravenclaw too!" said Jeremey, "Hufflepuff's not as sharp as they were last year, especially Christian. Just look at him, Ravenclaw would never have beaten us last year if he was playing like this."

Scorpius however, was not convinced, "You can't count out the defending champs." He said "I'll put down three on the Badgers."

James stiffened and turned sideways at Scorpius, though he had by now accepted that the boy was not his father, and was actually kind of cool, he was still disconcerted to find yet another thing that they were agreeing on, even if it was something as inconsequential as this.

* * *

Aiden Walker was knocked out of the air by a Bludger, leaving Ravenclaw one Chaser short. However, the Ravenclaw Team still clung to a narrow 140-120 lead. James was on the edge of his seat, he wasn't going to lose a bet to Albus!

His brother seemed to be having similar thoughts, as he leaned towards James … never once taking his eyes off the Pitch … and whispered "What'd I tell you Jamie?"

James scowled, he hated when his brother used that nickname, and Albus knew it. The only times he used it were when he was deathly afraid, or when he wanted to get under James' skin.

Billy Hewitt, the Hufflepuff Seeker who twice the previous year had foiled Jeremey's attempts to reach the Snitch, pulled into a sharp dive. James couldn't see it from where he was, knew that he must have spotted the Snitch. Justin Shindler, the Ravenclaw Seeker was right on his heels and…

Wait a minute, Justin Shindler? Wasn't that Darren kid's last name Shindler? The one that Albus was hanging out with?

James glanced over at the two boys sitting, or at this point standing on Albus' other side. Which one was Darren again?

"Hey Darren?" James called out, and the curly haired boy looked over at him angrily, apparently not wanting to be interrupted.

"What do you want James, I'm trying to watch the Match!" he asked impatiently.

"Is that your brother?" James asked, pointing to the Pitch where the blue clad Seeker was … dammit … where he was raising the Snitch in triumph.

Jeremey, Albus, Darren, and a number of other Gryffindor supporters cheered as Justin raised the Snitch above his head and waved it in the air. At the same moment, the blue-clad supporters to the right of the Gryffindors exploded in cheers of jubilation as they jumped to their feet.

"Yea, how'd you figure that one out Sherlock?" Darren asked sarcastically, before returning to cheering his brother's victory.

OK, so maybe James wasn't the most observant person in the world.

"Hey Jamsie!" Albus called out over the rancorous shouts from the Ravenclaws, who were getting quite loud for a bunch of nerds. "Looks like I win again!"

Unfortunately, Albus was not so forgetful.

* * *

After the Match, James and Albus decided to go and pay Hagrid a visit; a visit that James sincerely hoped would end a lot better than his last meeting with the Hogwarts Games Keeper. Hagrid had rushed out of his hut in order to inform James' father that the Magical History Movement was seeking the legendary Resurrection Stone, and had wound up being kidnapped by the vile organization.

However, this time, nothing like that was going to happen because they were going to have a perfectly normal conversation. Besides, the MHM hadn't been heard from since the fight that previous May, James wasn't sure that they were still a threat to anyone.

When they had knocked on Hagrid's door, the Half Giant had taken some time to finally open the door, and the two definitely heard a loud shuffling sound inside before Hagrid opened the door.

"Sorry about the mess I…" he began nervously, but immediately calmed down when he saw who was there.

"James, Al! Where have you lot been? I haven't seen yeh since the Feast?" Hagrid said jubilantly, grabbing the two boys in a hug that left them gasping for air. That was one of the dangers of being friends with someone like Hagrid. He was very fond of displays of affection and, unfortunately, did not quite know his own strength.

"Hi Hagrid." James wheezed, his ribs feeling like they had cracked. A glance over at Albus told him that his younger brother was feeling the same, as the younger boy was doubled over grabbing a hold of the wall for support.

Hagrid did not seem to notice any of that, as he was too caught up telling them that they needed to visit more often, and to bring some of their friends down the next time they came. It occurred to James that Hagrid must get very lonely in that hut all by himself, though he supposed that teacher Care of Magical Creatures every day must give him some chance to get to know some of the students.

"Yea, well I'm not so sure you'd approve of some of our friends." Albus mumbled, looking at the floor again as though it was the most interesting thing he had ever laid eyes on in his entire life.

"Yea, I heard about that." Hagrid said gravely, "Scorpius Malfoy, who'd have thought it."

They did not need to answer that question, if someone had told them five years ago that they would have wound up mates with Scorpius Malfoy they would have told them to go get themselves checked out at St. Mungo's … and that would be _after_ they had personally kicked the snot out of them for even _suggesting_ such a thing.

James expected Hagrid to scold them, to tell them that they were disgracing the name of 'Potter' and that they should not be associating with people like the Malfoys. He expected to hear a long drawn out speech about how that was not what their father would have expected of them, and how they were letting him down by hanging out with the son of his old school rival.

However, Hagrid did none of those things, but instead leaned across the table and, speaking in a whisper as though he was admitting some great secret, said "Don't tell yer father I said this, but I think it's grand that you're not afraid to make friends in other Houses."

James' mouth fell open, as did Albus', was Hagrid really saying what he thought the Half Giant was saying? Hadn't Hagrid been the one who told them that there had never been a Witch or Wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin?

As though he could read their minds, Hagrid said "I know that I've told you in the past that Slytherins were a lot of no good stinkers, but you know the longer I've been here the more I've realized that them lot are people just like all the other Houses."

Ignoring the looks of horror on the boy's faces, Hagrid sighed and continued "Yup, I reckon they just get a bad rap because of You-Know-Who and the dark history and all that. So the fact that you can see past that makes me really proud of you lot."

James and Albus were still not convinced, and continued to stare at Hagrid as though he had suggested that they go and feed themselves to the Giant Squid. True it was _nice_ that someone didn't think that they were betraying their House by hanging out with a Slytherin, but it was not what they had been expecting.

* * *

For the rest of the time that they were there, their conversations were never quite as interesting as that first one had been, at least to James. It still amazed him that Hagrid, who had always shown nothing but hatred for Slytherin House, was so accepting of the whole thing. One thing was for sure though, they would be insane to expect a similar acceptance from their families.

That was the thing that was really bothering James and Albus, they knew that they were going to have to tell their parents sooner or later, they could not just keep two of their friends a secret from their parents, it would never work.

When they mentioned this to Hagrid he shrugged and said simply "Maybe it'll be hard for them to accept, but they're not going to hate you for it. It's your lives, and you've gotta live them how you see fit."

Glancing backwards over his shoulder, as though making sure that there was no one else there, Hagrid added in a hushed voice "But I'll give you this advise, make sure that they hear it from your mouths, and not someone else's.


	11. Chapter 11: Target Acquired

Chapter Eleven: Target Acquired

At breakfast one morning the next week in the Great Hall, Scorpius Malfoy came over to the Gryffindor Table clutching the Daily Prophet in his hand, seemingly terrified out of his wits. "Have you guys seen this?" he asked, visibly shaking as he threw the morning's paper down on the table.

"I told you that we hadn't heard the last of these guys." James said as he unfolded the Prophet and read the headline.

"The last of who?" asked Rose disinterestedly, her nose still buried in her Potions Book.

Jeremey and Albus, who were sitting on either side of him, both peered over his shoulders and groaned. "Not these guys again." Jeremey moaned, slamming his head down on the table in frustration.

"What does it say?" asked Andrew, who was sitting across from them.

"Yea, read it!" said Fred, who was straining to see what was printed on the paper over Albus' head, ignoring the glares he was getting from the younger Potter boy.

_Magical History Movement Declares Slytherin's Last Heir Still Among us!_

_Last year the Magical History Movement made headlines across the Wizarding World as their quest to discredit Harry Potter became public, along with their search for the Resurrection Stone, which they incorrectly believed would enable them to revive the Dark Lord._

_Now, the Magical History Movement, believed by many to have disbanded after their defeat last May, has resurfaced with a radical new claim. Almost more difficult to believe than their claim that The Boy Who Lived is actually a traitor to Wizard Kind, the MHM…as pundits are now calling the organization…is now claiming that Slytherin's Bloodline in fact did not dry up with the Death of He Who Must Not be Named, and that there is in fact one surviving Heir to the Slytherin Line!_

_According to the Magical History Movement, Slytherin's heir is in fact enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at this very moment. If it is true, then an unsuspecting Hogwarts student is probably going to find himself wrapped up in something far bigger than himself should the aims of the vile organization be realized._

_The Magical History Movement has said that the last Heir of Slytherin will be joining their cause, and that he will take his rightful place as the leader of their movement once they are able to contact him away from the meddling influence of those who blindly believe the lies of Harry Potter._

_If we are to take the MHM at their word, then we can infer that the so-called 'Heir' does not know who he or she is, and as a result it has attracted the interest of many who would like to think themselves important enough to be the Heir of Slytherin. While the Magical History Movement has made it clear that the Heir does not know of their identity, many people have come forward falsely claiming to be that individual in an effort to attract attention to themselves: something that the Ministry of Magic is frowning greatly upon._

_However, though this may seem like a revelation of mammoth proportions, one has learned to take things that the Magical History Movement has said with a grain of salt at the absolute least. They have been known to believe some, shall we say questionable things, over the years._

James folded the Prophet back over and tossed it onto the table saying "Why are you so freaked Scorp? I mean, is this really that big of a deal?"

Scorpius stared at James like he had just grown a second head, something that James resented. After all, it had been a perfectly valid question. He didn't see anyone else quaking in their boots in terror.

"Isn't it obvious," Scorpius snapped, and James shook his head, amused by how the Slytherin Boy was taking this whole thing. You'd have thought that someone had threatened to kill his mother or something.

Sitting down between Albus and Fred, much to the distaste of the red-haired boy, Scorpius buried his head in his palm and said "It's me, I know it is! My entire family has been in Slytherin for centuries!"

The boy looked up, but refused to make eye-contact with any of them as he lamented "My grandparents were Death Eaters, even my father worked for the Dark Lord! My whole bloody family's a bunch of Dark Wizards who'd love to kill Muggle Borns! It has to be me!"

James' grin slipped from his face like sheets of water down windowpane. He had to admit that Scorpius had a point, and if he _was_ the Heir of Slytherin then that would have to be a terrible thing to live with.

Then again, James had a hard time believing that it was possible. Hadn't his father suspected Scorpius' father of something similar during his second year? No, Scorpius couldn't be the Heir of Slytherin.

Albus seemed to agree, "No, it can't be you." He said to Scorpius, "My father spent his entire Second Year suspecting your father of that very same thing, and if he wasn't then you can't very well be can you?"

Scorpius, however, remained unconvinced, "I don't know, I've just got this feeling. And I'm scared guys, I mean I'm really really scared! What if I _am_ the one they're talking about?"

"Nah, you're too soft to be Slytherin's Heir," Jeremey said helpfully, "if anyone, I'd put my money on Parker!" he spat, glaring at the older Slytherin boy, who also seemed to be talking about the article with his friends, though much more humorously than they were.

"Aw thanks, I feel loads better now." Scorpius snapped sarcastically, clearly not liking the idea of being 'soft' any more than the possibility of his being the Heir of Slytherin.

"Oh come off it Jer," Andrew said, "I mean Remington's a prat and all that, but Slytherin's Heir?" He shook his head in disbelief, "I may not like the guy, but still…"

"Easier him than Scorpy over here." said Fred with a wicked grin that James recognized immediately. Scorpius was going to be hearing that one for a while.

"Hey watch it!" Scorpius interjected violently, causing James to grin to himself. Those two were going to be fun to watch.

"Alright guys, can we just drop it!" Zach said, cutting off James, who had been on the verge of asking why 'widdle baby Scorpy-pooh' was acting all upset.

As the eyes of everyone in attendance shifted to him, Zach muttered defiantly "Enough of all this crap, alright! They're just making this up! Slytherin's Heir? Yea right!"

But something in his voice told James that he wasn't convinced…

* * *

Despite Zach's constant objections that they were being stupid, the boys spoke of little else for that entire week besides the Prophet article, and who in their school could possibly be Slytherin's Heir. However, in all of their speculation and discussion, which included the inside knowledge of three Slytherins (Leon, Scorpius, and Ace), they could not think of a more likely candidate than Remington Parker.

After all, Remington was an elitist, Pure Blood, hated everything that didn't have to do with Slytherin, and above all was a total jerk! What more did you need from Slytherin's Heir? Of course, Scorpius remained convinced that he was the real Heir, and warned the other not to get too close to him in case he ever became violent or dangerous.

Just as they could not think of a likelier candidate than Remington, nor could they seem to convince Scorpius that he was not the Heir of Slytherin. Even when Albus had written home asking his parents if they thought that Scorpius Malfoy could perhaps be the Heir of Slytherin Scorpius had not been convinced.

Even after reading how his parents berated him for jumping to conclusions, and told him that they knew for a fact that the Malfoys were not Slytherin's descendants, Scorpius did not cheer up. Of course, that may have been in part because he believed that James had actually written the 'reply letter' to cheer him up.

Personally, James felt that anyone who believed that he would do anything to cheer up Scorpius Malfoy was off their rocker. But given what had happened lately, it would probably be best not to mention that.

As one could infer from their parents' reply, James and Albus had still not told their parents about their friendship with Scorpius Malfoy, nor for that matter had Scorpius told his father. It was still a prospect that all three of them were dreading, James especially. After everything bad he had said about Slytherin House, now he was close friends with one? It was almost shameful!

At James' request, none of his Dorm Mates had mentioned Scorpius in any of their letters home to their parents, and Albus' Dorm Mates did the same. It was still a rather delicate subject, and one that they did not want to broach until the time was right.

But when would the time be right? Probably somewhere around the time that James turned forty perhaps? Yea, that sounded about right.

Sadly that was not an option, and they were going to have to get around to it sooner or later. James was thinking maybe telling his parents over Christmas, but then that was probably way too soon.

Come to think of it, any time before he turned Seventeen was probably way too soon. If previous experience was anything to go by, James was going to need to defend himself.

OK, so maybe that was a total lie.

* * *

Though James was fully expecting for the teachers to come racing into the Great Hall one day to apprehend Slytherin's Heir, whoever he might have been, it never occurred. In fact, very few people actually paid the article very much mind. Most people were of the opinion that the Magical History Movement was shooting air out of their butts in an effort to win back some of the popularity and respect that they had commanded amongst the Wizarding Underworld before their blunder the previous May.

As a result of this commonly held belief, the story did not hold nearly as much attention amongst students and staff as it had when the Magical History Movement had been announcing their intentions the year before. Rather than the fear and terror that they had felt last year, most students found it funny: as though the whole thing were comical.

James understood why, it looked to most like the last desperate cry for attention of a dying fad that had no life left any more. However, several of the teachers at least, still understood the severity of what was happening. James heard Professor Wilkins discussing the article in hushed tones with Professor McGonagall, and was sure that he heard Hagrid mentioning it to Professor Ambrose, though the latter did not seem convinced.

And through it all, despite their numerous attempts to cheer him up, Scorpius remained as melancholy and depressed as ever. Even when James was forced…erm, I mean offered…to let Scorpius try out his state-of-the-art Nimbus 3,000 broomstick, the Slytherin boy refused and continued to mope about in sorrow.

Nothing that they did was having any positive effect on the boy, and Ace said that Scorpius was definitely upset about something else in addition to the whole 'Heir' thing, because he had stopped talking about it a long time ago, but kept alluding to something else that was bothering him. Something that, no matter how often he asked, Ace could never get him to explain.

Jeremey and Andrew had both long since given up trying to make Scorpius cheer up, they were even less concerned about Scorpius than James, and thought that this was just typical behavior of a Slytherin. Fred and Darren had also been quick to accept this view, as they had always been rather mistrustful of Scorpius from the very first day that they had met him.

However, Rose Zach and Luke all tried their best to help James and Albus work with the two Slytherin boys to make Scorpius cheer up. Well, perhaps Rose's attempts were a bit half-hearted, but she had at least tried.

Like the morning last Saturday, when they had found Scorpius brooding beneath a tree on the grounds. Rose had been adamant that she needed to get back to study, but Albus had talked her into staying.

As they approached Scorpius, James noticed Jeremey and Andrew shaking their heads and walking off

"Oi! Where are you two going?" Luke asked, glancing back at the two boys.

"I'm not helping him!" Jeremey spat back, his ire clearly up. James looked to Andrew for support, but his other friend shook his head and said "We're going to go find Christian and Jason and find something worthwhile to do! Try not to get bit by the snake James." and the two boys left without another word.

It hurt James to hear Jeremey and Andrew casually blow him off every time he tried to get them to help Scorpius out, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Glancing over his shoulder he said "Zach, you'll still help. Right?" But the last of James' Dorm Mates had vanished as well.

Spinning around as though convinced that Zach was still there somewhere, James exclaimed "Where in Merlin's name did _he_ get off to?"

"He skulked off the moment you mentioned trying to talk to Scorpius, let's just go James." Albus said quickly.

James glanced towards the retreating figures of Jeremey and Andrew, who had just met up with a third student who was most probably Zach. Sighing at the sight of his three closest friends going off without him, James muttered sadly "Yea…let's go."

Scorpius had better be pretty damn grateful for this!

It was Rose who had spoken first, though admittedly she had not used the most encouraging words.

"Hey Scorpius." She said, sounding every bit as though she did not want to be there, causing James to scowl in frustration. Couldn't she even pretend that she cared?

The Slytherin boy did not answer, but glanced upwards for a brief moment before gazing away again.

Clearly caught a bit off guard, Rose said "Um…I was going to just go study for our Charms Exam. Do you…want to come study with me?" Sadly even Rose, who James seemed to think viewed studying was the most exciting things in the world, could not make this idea sound like much fun.

Scorpius seemed to agree, as he merely shook his head and walked away.

Of course, their failure to help Scorpius was bothering James, but it hurt him far more to realize that his best friend was now probably spending more time with Andrew's annoying sister Julie than with him. It was a sign of just how much work he and Albus were putting into cheering their Slytherin friend up that Jeremey was now saying that Julie was 'not as annoying as she was in September'.

* * *

James even, crazy though it might sound, went to his eldest cousin Victoire for help. Sadly, his Part Veela cousin was not exactly in much of a mood to help him, as became clear almost from the moment that he approached her.

"What makes you think that I would ever want to help an inconsiderate jerk like you James Potter?" Victoire snapped, causing more than a few people in the Common Room to glare at her menacingly, insulting James in the Gryffindor Common Room was something that tended to anger more than a few people.

"What did I even do to offend you?" James asked, honestly confused by his cousin's anger. However, this seemed to be quite the wrong thing to say.

"What did you do? What _didn't_ you do James? Ignoring all of the times that you replaced my makeup with paint, or the times that you changed my hair green or…."

"Hey, I was six years old!" James snapped. "You can't blame me for that, all little kids do accidental magic!"

Victoire rolled her eyes and said "Perhaps, but every time _you_ did someone was getting hurt by it, usually it was Albus, but sometimes it was me too!"

"Alright leave James alone you nutcase!" Jeremey said, walking down from the Dormitories, not even bothering to look up at who he was insulting. If he was, he probably would have held his tongue. Insulting Victoire Weasley was even more dangerous than insulting James Potter: doing so was sure to result in an angry mob of boy's chasing you down.

"Jeez James, why do you even talk to people like this." Jeremey asked, glaring at Victoire, making it clear what he thought of her from the way he said 'people'.

"She's my cousin." James said simply, at which Jeremey immediately slammed his fist into his face.

"God, who in this Castle _isn't_ your cousin?" Jeremey asked, "I can't even back you up in an argument without insulting some member of your family!" he grumbled as he stalked off and threw himself onto a couch in front of the fireplace.

What could James say? He had a point.

Besides, he probably should have been grateful that Jeremey was sticking up for him in the first place after what had happened lately.

**Thank you so much to everyone! Don't forget to REVIEW! :)**


	12. Chapter 12: Closer Than One Would Think

Chapter Twelve: Closer than One Would Think

James was sure that if anything was going to cheer Scorpius up, it would be the upcoming Quidditch Match between Slytherin and Ravenclaw … well, assuming that Slytherin was able to beat Ravenclaw that is. After Ravenclaw's stunning defeat of the defending champion Hufflepuff Team, many were already labeling Ravenclaw as the team to beat for anyone who wanted a chance at the House Cup that year.

Though Scorpius, an exceptional Quidditch Player from what James had seen of him when they went to the Pitch for pickup games, had not tried out for the Slytherin Team that year they still had an exceptional team. It was very similar to the team that they'd had the year before, and that team had only just missed out on a chance to play in the Finals.

And so, much to their shame, James and Albus were (somewhat unenthusiastically) cheering on the Slytherin Team with Scorpius and Leon, both of whom were boisterously telling anyone who would listen that there was no way that Slytherin was going to lose that game.

If nothing else, Scorpius would be happy for the duration of the game, as his eyes were alive with an excitement that they hadn't seen in him since the day when he'd read the article in the Daily Prophet and become convinced that he was in fact the Heir of Slytherin. Maybe if his team won that day he'd be able to finally move on without being such a depressed lump of sadness.

Rose had said that they were stupid for thinking that a game of Quidditch could have that kind of effect on someone, but everyone had laughed and told her that Quidditch could do more than she imagined. Like move James Potter and Jeremey Hall to tears, or cause friends to duel each other in the Great Hall for instance.

James was still embarrassed whenever anyone reminded him of the fact that he and Jeremey had tried to curse Christian after Hufflepuff had defeated Gryffindor in last year's Quidditch Cup Final, but not as embarrassed as he would have been if anyone had known that he had actually cried in the locker room after the game. Thankfully, the only person who had been there was Jeremey, and he wasn't about to go telling people considering that his eyes had been a pair of faucets after the Match.

Though the school had reacted rather mildly to the article, the school had begun to realize the implications as time went on. Regardless as to whether or not the so-called 'Heir of Slytherin' was in fact Slytherin's descendant, he was most certainly a danger to himself, and those around him if members of the Magical History Movement tried to come after him.

Assuming, that is, that the Heir was in fact a he, as Erin Malloy had been insisting that the Heir was most likely a girl, which was how they had escaped suspicion for so long. James had to admit that it made a lot of sense, but then – as Andrew had pointed out – he might have been persuaded by something other than logic on that score.

* * *

They decided to sit in the Slytherin section of the stands, rather than receive the ire of Gryffindors who hated to see any member of their House supporting Slytherin, even half-heartedly. However, even in the Slytherin section of the crowd, they received plenty of insults.

"What's this Potter? You finally realized which House to root for?" asked an older Slytherin girl, to which Albus shot back, "Nah, I just think it'd be much more satisfying to kick your Team's butts in the Finals than Ravenclaw's!"

Oddly enough that shut everyone up.

For the most part they were left alone after that, but there were still plenty of odd looks directed their way. They were not the smallest of bunches either: Fred and Darren had refused to come with them on principle – and Rose herself had refused to even attend the Match, but there was still Scorpius, Leon, Ace, James, Albus, Jeremey, Andrew, Zach, Luke, and even Christian and Dwayne had come over, seeing as they needed Ravenclaw to lose and most of their House was rooting for Slytherin this Match anyway.

So, trying to be as unobtrusive as a group of eleven people containing five extremely partisan fans who spent the whole Match shouting could possibly be, the boys tried to enjoy the Match regardless of what was going on around them.

The Match was rather one sided, Ravenclaw was winning 130-50, but nobody was counting Slytherin out of this Match just yet.

Then, out of nowhere, Remington Parker looked down, and plucked the Snitch seemingly out of nowhere. It was as though he had summoned the Snitch to him, but of course that was impossible – Parker had just made a sensational capture.

As it happened, the Snitch had flown straight up Remington's sleeve, necessitating he only pluck it out of the air as it tried, quite slowly, to fly back out a few seconds later. It had to be the biggest freebie of a catch in Hogwarts History, but it was still a legal capture, and Slytherin had stolen a 200-130 Victory.

* * *

Scorpius, as James had predicted, was ecstatic about his House's victory, and remained that way for the remainder of the next few days. Even when the elation over the win against the heavily favored Ravenclaws had worn out, they noticed that Scorpius had returned to his old self, more or less anyway.

If only the same could be said for the rest of the Castle, which was slowly but surely dissolving into a cesspool of accusations and suspicions. At first, it was only Slytherin students who were targeted, but it soon spread to the point where you could hardly blow your nose without being accused of being the Heir!

Even James, known to everyone as the son of the noble and heroic Harry Potter had been accused of being the Heir no fewer than four times, of course James didn't take such accusations to heart. Besides, just about everyone in the Castle had been accused at least once before the month was out.

The only good thing that could be taken from the insanity was that, at the very least, Scorpius was going along with it like everyone else. Though, as Zach had pointed out, that might have been more out of a desire to fit in than out of a belief that he truly was 'clear'.

"Well," James said, propping his feet up on the Gryffindor House Table at dinner one day, much to the disgust of the students nearby, "I think we can safely call our mission a success."

With a look of revulsion, Andrew shoved James' feet off the table and replied "That's great James, but do remember that we _eat_ off of this table."

Rolling his eyes, James reluctantly sat straight, muttering to himself "Pansy." Some people were just a slave to routine.

"Oh so you're finally through with that rubbish then are you?" asked Jeremey, sounding immensely relieved. "Honestly, you've done nothing but hang around that little puke for the last month!"

"Oh don't exaggerate Jer, it wasn't that long." Protested James, though admittedly he had been rather neglecting his other friends because of Scorpius. But still, if the result was that the Slytherin wasn't going to hang himself in the broom cupboard one day wasn't it worth it?

Dear god! What was he saying?

* * *

It was in this spirit of success that the Gryffindors set about planning a joint party for Andrew and Zach, who would turn thirteen on the tenth and thirteenth respectively. The one problem with this plan was that Fred Weasley was not going to be able to attend, seeing as he had gotten himself Detention until Term let out for Christmas holidays.

After Slytherin had defeated Ravenclaw Fred, like the fool that he was, had gone off looking for Remington Parker, to tell him how grateful he should be for his lucky catch, and how he didn't have any skill whatsoever. That had been the plan anyway, but sadly it was not what ended up happening.

What had ended up happening instead, was Fred had hexed Remington from behind a corner, and then ran straight into Professor Longbottom.

Professor Longbottom, or Neville as the Potter / Weasley children called him, had the common sense to know that announcing to the world what Fred had done would only cause further problems, so he rather quietly gave Fred two weeks Detentions for 'disrupting the learning environment' which everyone felt was very tactful of him to do, all things being considered.

Of course, trying to tell this to Fred would have been like trying to convince James that the Chudley Cannons were the worst team in Quidditch: sure it was true, but why would you bother wasting your breath on such a useless effort?

Fred had returned from his first Detention even more convinced that Remington was the Heir that the Voldemort Revisionist Movement, ignoring everyone's objections that he had jinxed the Slytherin not the other way around. It wasn't like they were very strong objections: they all still suspected Parker anyway.

* * *

There was a lot of talk about having the Party somewhere that all of the Houses would be able to attend, after all the boys had friends from each of the four Houses, but unfortunately no one had been able to think of a suitable location. James had remembered his father saying something about a 'Room of Requirement' but though he scanned the Marauder's Map time and again he could not find any such room on the Map.

James had finally been forced to admit that the Room probably did not exist, and that it was just one of his father's stories. But still, most of his father's stories were true, and besides after everything that he had done why did he need to make a story up? You'd have thought that his real adventures would have been more than enough.

Albus had suggested just telling the kids in the other Houses what the password was and letting them in, but James felt that it was a sort of unwritten code that could not be violated. You simply did not let people from other Houses into your Common Room, it was one of those things that wasn't done: besides there was probably a rule against it, not that it had ever stopped James before. Maybe if it was just the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, he would have gone along with the idea, but since they had started hanging out with Leon and Scorpius James was less comfortable with the idea. He did not yet trust the Slytherin boys that much.

* * *

So the Party took place, much like the one that had taken place that September, in the Gryffindor Common Room, and the other Houses were forced to wish Andrew and Zach a happy birthday the next morning. Compared to the first party it was relatively tame, most of the Gryffindors had learnt their lesson the first time around, but it was still a wild party by the standards of most people.

When the party had been well underway for a few hours, one of the more interesting events of the evening took place.

"Hey Darren," called Luke, dragging the quiet boy out from the corner in which he had been hiding, "Why don't you join the party, have a little fun man?"

Darren mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone, that he was no fun and would just ruin everyone's time, but they were having none of it.

"Aw come on Darren, don't be like that." Implored Julie Knight, "You've just got to have some self-confidence."

"Yea, you really gotta work on that one mate." Added Albus, who was still looking rather disheveled having just extricated himself from the mob of partying students on the other side of the Common Room.

"Yea, why don't you play your guitar or something!" Luke exclaimed suddenly, looking like a cartoon character as he jumped up and down in excitement. "I'd bet that everyone would totally go for that!"

James could not help but snigger at this, "Look guys," James began, "I know you're trying to help him and everything, but don't make him go and embarrass himself." After all, in all seriousness, they all knew that Darren couldn't play guitar. Shy, quiet Darren? Not a chance!

But at James' words, Darren gazed up at him, and there was something in his eyes that James had never seen there before. "Go get it." He said quietly, and Luke practically tripped over himself running towards the Boy's Dormitories.

As it happened, James was wrong … dead wrong … Darren _did _play guitar, and he was really good at it too! So good in fact, that he had to play five songs before they would let him leave, and even then they begged him to play more. James had never heard anyone play so well, and the fact that it was Darren – the shy and quiet kid who he had never paid any mind to – just made it even more surreal.

After Darren ducked away, his face shining red with embarrassment, to put his guitar away again, James confronted him in the back of the Common Room.

"Darren, why didn't you tell me you could play guitar?" James asked, amazed by the boy's ability, and secretly rather jealous. He hadn't even recognized the last three songs, but they were still spectacular.

"I dunno." Darren said, becoming "I guess I don't like playing in front of other people."

"It's true." Albus said, "I've only ever heard him play three times, and I've been _living_ with him all year."

"Wait," James started, "You knew about this too?"

Albus shrugged disinterestedly and said "Yea, hey Darren – I'm going back to join the party, just be sure to have some fun alright?"

At a noncommittal nod from his friend, Albus rushed back towards the Common Room, where Andrew and Zach were engaged in a fierce competition to see who could balance a glass of butterbeer on their head for the longest.

James too turned to leave, but just as he did so he paused and asked "Darren … that last song you played, who wrote that anyway?"

Taking a moment to remember which song James was talking about, Darren replied "Umm … oh, that one, did you like it? Just this Muggle band, probably never heard of them – the Beatles."

Dammit Hugo!

* * *

Christmas Holidays were rapidly approaching, and Jeremey and Andrew were going to be spending the Holidays at Jeremey's house in Montreal. James had been rather disheartened by this news, but supposed it was to be expected that his friends would want to spend Christmas with their own families this year. Zach would also be going to his own home for the Holidays.

James had approached his friends in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but none of their parents were willing to let them spend Christmas away from home either, something that depressed James and Albus to no end. True their cousins were pretty fun, but they didn't fancy the idea of being locked up at the Burrow for an entire week with no one to talk to but their army of red haired cousins, all of whom were sure to be pestering them about what Hogwarts was like.

Albus had tried his Dorm Mates, but hadn't enjoyed any more success than James, both Darren and Luke would be going home for the Holidays with their own families.

Scorpius had mentioned one day at breakfast that he was going to spend Christmas at Hogwarts because his parents were vacationing in northern Italy that Holiday, which presented James and Albus with a rather interesting idea.

"Hey James." Albus said one morning without any prompting whatsoever.

"Yea," James replied, paying more attention to his breakfast than to his younger brother, who was probably just going to ask him for help with his Herbology homework or something.

"I was thinking, since Scorpius was just gonna stay at Hogwarts over Christmas, why we shouldn't invite him to spend Christmas with us?" Albus said timidly

James couldn't help himself, he started choking on his orange juice, and wound up spraying half of it across the table. Still gagging, James said "Al, are you serious? They'd throw us out the front door!"

Albus looked down at the floor again and said "I know, I know. But we said we were going to tell them that he's our friend sooner or later and I figured that … well, that if they saw for themselves that he's really not that bad that maybe they wouldn't freak out as much.

Ordinarily it was a sound argument, but this was not exactly the most ordinary of situations. "Our friend, I think you mean _your_ friend Albus, I'm just a neutral bystander to all of this."

"That's a load of rubbish James, and you know it!" Albus protested immediately.

Grasping for straws by this time, James said with a sigh "Al, I really don't feel like having half the family openly hate me at Christmas, and the other half struggling to hide it."

"Rosie thinks it's a good idea too!" Albus blurted out, as though this changed everything, James for one did not hold his cousin's opinion in quite so high an esteem.

"What the hell does Red know?" he asked, "She spends half her time in the bloody library! She doesn't know what she's talking about!" James was saying whatever he had to in order to ensure that this didn't happen. It was the worst idea in history!

"Yea well … Fred thinks it's a good idea too, and if you don't invite him then I will, and you'll just have to deal with it!" Albus snapped, it was clear that the younger boy had made up his mind long before he had come to James with his idea.

Rolling his eyes, and inwardly cursing Fred for going along with this harebrained scheme, James said "Fine Al, but when we get disowned and disinherited by every family member that we have, don't say that I didn't warn you!"

**OK guys I'm REALLY REALLY sorry about the long gap between updates. I've had college applications going on, stuff with school, and a whole mess of other personal stuff that have just gotten in the way. But hopefully now I'll be back on it.**

**On the subject of Harry Potter I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight, that was a lot of fun, totally crazy all sorts of fun stuff going on there.**

**Now that I'm back with the updating hopefully James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings, which is coincidentally exactly one chapter shorter than 'Legacies' at 26 chapters (thereby making it the shortest of the series in terms of number of chapters), by the end of 2010 (remember I wrote the first two books a year ago, and am just retouching them before putting them up), and will be starting Book Three (Stay tuned for title) in the New Year. Updating should be more regular then, as I'll be posting every time I finish a chapter, however often that will be.**

**Thanks to everyone for following. And don't forget to review!  
**


	13. Chapter 13: Christmas Confessions

Chapter Thirteen: Christmas Confessions

Despite James' protests, Albus was going to go forward with his harebrained scheme regardless. The next day the two boys had gone to ask Scorpius what he thought, and whether or not he wanted to come along, and the Slytherin boy had shared some of James' skepticism of the idea.

"You're barking!" had been Scorpius' first reaction when Albus had proposed the plan to him, grey eyes widening in shock when Albus shook his head, indicating that he was entirely serious.

"That's what I said." James said, personally thinking that what they were proposing to do was about as wise as strolling through the Forbidden Forest blindfolded.

"Look," Albus said, trying to defend his idea, "Don't you think it's better that we just get this out of the way as quickly as possible?" When neither boy agreed with him he added, "Well, I mean, once they _meet_ you they'll see that you're not like your father … no offense."

Scorpius however, did seem to take some offense at what Albus had said, "What do you mean 'nothing like my father', are you saying something about my family?" he demanded.

Sensing a storm brewing, James quickly jumped to his brother's rescue "He meant how your father _used_ to be." James said quickly. There was no need to foul things up between them when their parents were going to be bad enough about the whole thing.

Scorpius, apparently, could not argue with the fact that his father had done some terrible things in his youth, as he didn't say anything in reply, but stared at the floor in silence, much the same way that Albus always did when he was nervous about something.

"Well," he said finally, his voice coming out hoarse and quiet "I suppose that it would be best to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible, Al makes sense … we'd better do it."

"OH! What now?" Shouted Albus, waving his hands in James' face tauntingly, "Who told you so? I _told_ you that he'd think it was a good idea!"

Shockingly enough, Scorpius' approval wasn't enough to get James onboard, "Well then you're all mad, the lot of you. You, Fred, Rosie, Scorp, all of you." He murmured.

* * *

Ordinarily, the last few weeks before Christmas Holidays could not go by quickly enough for James, but this year he wished that the days would drag themselves on longer and longer so that the dreaded discussion that he knew was forthcoming could be put off as long as possible.

He wasn't too nervous about what his parents were going to say, once he had thought it through he had realized that his parents would probably be rather accepting of the fact that their children had befriended the children of their old school rival. However, he was more concerned about what some of his Uncles were going to think: namely his Uncle Ron and Uncle George.

Unfortunately, they happened to also be James' two favorite Uncles, and the ones whom he least wanted to have angry with him. However, all things considered, it was going to be impossible to expect that those two would not react extremely negatively to the whole thing.

Then, there was the matter of how Scorpius' parents would react. Scorpius had said that he was never sure if his father hated or respected Harry Potter, and that his father would at the very least be slightly disappointed that his son had so many friends outside of Slytherin House.

"For god's sake," James exclaimed one day while they were discussing the subject, "You'd think that we're bloody well marrying him, not just telling them that we're friends."

Scorpius laughed, but Albus said gravely, "I wish you _were_ telling them that you were getting married. They'd probably be a lot calmer about news like that."

Stealing a quick glance over at the Ravenclaw Table, James murmured "Think Erin would go for that if I asked her?"

Seeing the horrified expression on his brother's face, James explained hastily "I didn't mean for real! I meant, just to freak them out a little bit … put things in perspective a bit?"

"You sure that's all you meant James?" Albus asked, adopting the expression of fake innocence that always worked on their mum, but not on James.

"Can it Al!" James muttered darkly, burying his head in his hands.

* * *

Finally, the day came and all of the students who were going home for Christmas Holidays boarded the Hogwarts Express to return to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Well, most of them anyway. Jeremey, Andrew, and Julie had all taken the Floo Network to Montreal where they would be meeting both of their families, Jason, Paul, Leon, and Darren were taking the Knight Buss to their own destinations from Hogsmeade and Christian and Dwayne had gotten Portkeys set up for them by the Headmistress.

So, James found himself in a compartment with Albus, Scorpius, Zach, Rose, Fred, Nick, and Luke. None of whom seemed to be entirely comfortable opening their mouths and starting a conversation. Nick and Luke had both heard by now what was going on, and both felt too awkward to really say anything to anyone else.

Finally, it was Luke who had broken the ice, rather untypically of the shy quiet boy, by saying "If it were any quieter in here, I'd say that this were the train to a funeral."

It was not much of a conversation starter, but it _was_ the first thing that anyone had said the entire train ride, and made everyone a bit more comfortable talking.

As it turned out, Luke was not quite as quiet as James had thought, turned out he just never had time to get a word in edgewise between all the rest of them yapping nonstop.

"I'm sorry James," Scorpius said, shaking his head as though James had said something foolish "But the Cannons are completely hopeless! Now if you want to see a real Quidditch Team you should look at the Montrose Magpies!"

James immediately stiffened at the mention of the League's most successful Quidditch Team and said "Don't even mention that disgrace of a team in my presence! They don't have half the heart of the Cannons!"

The same Cannons, James reminded himself, that have finished dead last for the last twelve years straight. He remembered his Uncle Ron telling him once that the year that they had managed to finish fifth to last twelve years ago was one of his proudest moments as a Cannons fan. Now how is that for depressing?

As it turned out, Luke was a fan of the Ballycastle Bats, an Irish Team whose players seemed to be drunk on butterbeer more often than not. However, they still managed to be one of the best teams in the League, prompting Bats fans to proclaim that their team could beat any team in the League, _drunk_!

"We throttled Montrose last time we played you guys!" Luke said, now engaged in a heated debate with Scorpius, who replied swiftly that Montrose would have won if their star beater had not been injured the game in question.

"Forget those teams," Nick scoffed, flicking his dark hair out of his eyes, "The Applebee Arrows are by far the best team in the League!"

James grimaced, waiting for the forthcoming reaction from Zach, who was not going to take to this information very well. As expected, he did not have to wait very long.

"What!" Zach exclaimed, staring at Nick as though seeing the boy for the first time. "You're a bloody Arrows fan?"

James groaned and buried his face in his hands, knowing the rant that was coming from his Wimbourne Wasps supporting friend. The Wasps and Arrows hated each other with a vengeance, and the fans were worse than the players.

* * *

When finally they arrived at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters Zach and Nick were surprisingly both still alive, which James supposed was the best that one could hope for.

James and Albus found their parents in a short amount of time, and steeled themselves for what they knew was going to be awkward at the very best.

Their mother wrapped them in a hug, fussing about how Albus looked as though he had grown at least half a foot, when really it could not have been more than an inch or so, and spent an embarrassingly long amount of time asking them if they were making sure to study, and shower, and get enough sleep, and eighty million other things that they would have to have been idiots to have forgotten.

Looking over their shoulders she asked "What, you didn't bring any of your little friends home with you this year? Last year you brought home so many Jamie."

In reality, there had only been three of them, but he supposed that it must have seemed like a lot to his mother.

"Well, we did actually …" Albus began, avoiding his mother's eye, "And that's kind of something that we wanted to talk to you about."

This time it was their father who spoke, "What do you mean Albus?" His voice was neither accusing, nor harsh, but simply one of inquiry, yet there was something hovering behind his words.

"Well," Albus began, before hastily retreating "James why don't you tell them?"

Left abandoned to confront his parents, James groaned and said "Alright, just come out."

As his parents looked at him peculiarly, Scorpius Malfoy emerged from behind a large luggage cart and walked shyly up to the Potters. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Potter." He said quietly, not daring to look James' parents in the eyes. As James looked back and forth between Scorpius and his parents, both of whom were wearing expressions of the greatest shock, he said "Mom dad, this is our friend Scorpius … Scorpius Malfoy."

* * *

No one had said anything for quite some time, the silence stretched on longer and longer, until James' father finally did something that James would never have expected to see him do in a million years, he extended his hand to the son of his most bitter school rival and said "It's a pleasure to meet you Scorpius, although I have to admit I don't think either of my sons have ever mentioned you in any of their letters."

If James was shocked, that was nothing compared to the expression on Scorpius' face, who looked practically traumatized as he shook Harry's hand. James' mother did not look surprised though, actually she looked rather annoyed. She was glaring at her husband like she could not believe what she was seeing, and then gave James a look that could have only one meaning 'you have some explaining to do!'

Still, things had gone far better than they had been given any reason to hope, but James knew that his mother was far from convinced. Not to mention that when they went to the Burrow for Christmas Dinner, Scorpius was going to be ripped apart by their Slytherin hating Uncles.

When they arrived at Number Twelve Grimauld Place Scorpius was still looking rather pale, that is until James' father said to Scorpius, "Young man, I don't want you to come here with any misimpressions. You are just as welcome in this House as anyone else. I don't care what House you're in or who your father is, if you're my sons' friend then that is good enough for me."

James had always found his father's long speeches to be pointless and corny, but for once he was grateful for them. After that Scorpius' face regained most of its color … and then it gained even more color until it was a bright shade of red.

James' mother's face was a similar color, but James had a feeling that she wasn't blushing … fuming was more like it. And the moment that she opened her mouth to speak, James knew they were in trouble.

"Harry dear, can I speak to you for a moment?" she said, trying to sound as though what she wanted to talk about was of no importance whatsoever, but none of them were fooled. They all knew what she wanted to talk about; she was not so accepting as her husband of having a Malfoy in the House.

* * *

That night the three boys were preparing to go to sleep in James' room, Albus included despite their father's assurances that the two would never share a room again, and were discussing the day in great detail. James' mother had not yet openly said so, but it was clear that she was still angered by Scorpius' presence.

"You're screwed tomorrow though." James told Scorpius, laughing humorlessly, "My Uncles are going to tear you limb from limb the minute that they set eyes on you. And then just for good measure they're going to kill me and Albus too, and lock Rosie up in her room so that she can learn her lesson."

Albus laughed, but Scorpius just paled again, seemingly much more concerned by the whole thing than his friends were.

"It's not like I'm not used to it." He said at last, "Everywhere I go it's always 'that's Draco Malfoy's kid!' They judge me for it, and they don't even bother to get to know me. They just assume that I'm just like my Death Eater father!"

James had never heard Scorpius talk like that, but he realized that he should have figured it out long before then. Especially considering that he, being the eldest son of Harry Potter, had been through the exact same thing. Correction _was_ going through exactly the same thing.

Wait a second; was he actually empathizing with Scorpius Malfoy?

* * *

If James had been expecting his family to react negatively to Scorpius' presence he was wrong, they reacted even worse! The very second that Scorpius walked through the door, things began to go downhill.

"Oh Harry," James heard his Uncle Ron calling out from the other room, "You're early, we didn't expect you till-" but his Uncle cut off as he caught sight of the boy standing between his two nephews.

The glass held in his hand fell to the ground and shattered as Ronald Weasley took two steps backwards in shock. "Gin," he began slowly, "What's going on here?"

It didn't stop there, for the next hour Scorpius was besieged by questions from James' Uncles Ron and George about why there was a Slytherin in their house: and a Malfoy no less!

His Aunt Hermione had been more acceptant of the whole thing; actually she seemed to be rather proud about the whole thing. James was sure that he heard his Aunt telling Rose that she was doing a great thing by branching out to students in other Houses, and that it was a very good philosophy.

"Did he blackmail you or something?" his Uncle Ron asked him desperately, "Threaten you? Drug you? Anything?" He simply could not believe that his nephews, let alone his daughter, had befriended his enemy's son.

Compared to Uncle George though, that almost seemed reasonable, his Uncle George was adamantly telling Fred that he was not going to tolerate his son associating with children like that.

It was not until James' Grandma Molly came steaming into the living room with a look of death on her face that they finally stopped.

"Now you listen here!" she said, in a voice that still made her children tremble. "Your children have done something that you should be _praising_ them for! They're seeing past prejudices and appearances, and you're scolding them for it! And worse, you made a little boy cry! Do you feel big now Ronald Weasley? What about you George? Do you feel important now?"

James looked at Albus quizzically, who was crying? Then he noticed that Scorpius had left the room some time ago.

"I don't care if Who-Know-Who himself had a son, and he came in here right now!" She thundered, causing everyone in the room to tremble in fear, "I thought I raised you better than this! Judging a child on his parentage! You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

They certainly did look it, and they gave Scorpius much less of a hard time for the rest of the week, although they couldn't resist asking James and Albus one or two more times whether they were _sure_ that this kid was really their friend.

**Thank you to everyone for sticking with me, I'm still hoping to stick to the timetable of getting all of Bloodlines up by the end of December, so updates will be coming in a flurry (again, this was all written long ago so I'm not this fast).**

**Also a very special thanks to my good friend Amber for planting the seeds in my head that lead to Molly's smackdown of Ron and George.**

**Thanks for reading, and remember to review! Thanks so much guys!**


	14. Chapter 14: Questions, But No Answers

Chapter Fourteen: Questions, but no Answers

Hogwarts seemed much colder than it had been when they left, and James wasn't talking metaphorically. Everywhere they went, their breath crystallized in the air before them, and they had to keep their cloaks wrapped tightly around them to avoid freezing, and even that didn't help all that much.

The temperature had dropped suddenly and without warning, and everyone at Hogwarts was in a foul mood because of it. Well, everyone that is, except for Jeremey who was supposedly used to those kinds of temperatures. Apparently Canada was this cold all the time, which James thought was a serious exaggeration.

So while everyone else in the Gryffindor Common Room was huddled as close to the fire as they could possibly get, Jeremey was perfectly happy to have the large comfortable couch on the other side of the Common Room all to himself.

"He's not serious is he?" James asked Andrew, who had spent Christmas holidays there, one day after Jeremey had said that the weather would not have passed for 'nippy' in Canada.

"Oh he's serious alright." Andrew said bitterly, staring at the fire in the way that a starved wolf would stare at a scrap of meat. "I don't think I left the house once! It was _this cold_ every day!" he exclaimed, clearly wondering why anyone would bother to live in such a god forsaken place. Though he would not have shared these thoughts with Jeremey, James had to agree.

It was so cold that Alex had, much to his displeasure, been forced to call off all Gryffindor Quidditch Practices. That wasn't, of course, for lack of trying to get them out there. James remembered the rage he had been in when the team had refused to take to the Pitch.

"Come on guys," he'd shouted across the Common Room, "We've got Practice!"

James had remained rooted where he was, staring into the fireplace, as he said "Not on your life Alex, I'm staying right here thank you very much."

Michael Gate, who had been wrapped in a giant quilt blanket on the couch with Lena Roberts added "Forget it Alex, it's not happening!"

"Ah, you're all a bunch of pansies!" Jeremey declared, crossing the Common Room haughtily. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt emblazoned with a maple-leaf, which James was sure was just out of spite.

In the end, Alex had only been able to convince Jeremey and Zach to get dressed, Jeremey because he was a raving nutter from Montreal who thought it was summer, and Zach because he was afraid that he would get kicked off the team if he tried to refuse. However, one Chaser, one Beater, and one Seeker were not going to get much accomplished, so they had finally been forced to give up.

In light of the fact that Gryffindor would be playing Hufflepuff in five days, and it didn't look like the weather was going to get any warmer anytime soon, that decision was starting to look like a bad one.

* * *

Classes, if they had been bad before, were unbearable now. The students spent half the class time trying to invent new ways of keeping themselves warm, and spent most of the other half shivering. James had already set his hair on fire in Potions Class no fewer than five times by trying to use the fire under his cauldron to warm himself: and he was not the only one.

Albus was on thin ice with several of his teachers, as he had tried several times to conjure up a small fire on his desk to warm himself. Unfortunately, he hadn't quite grasped the 'small' part of the equation, and had ended up lighting his entire desk on fire.

Rose seemed to be the only person in the school besides Jeremey who wasn't bothered by the cold, but that was because she was determined not to let anything get in the way of her studies. So, though Albus had said he could see Rose's teeth chattering, she refused to take her eyes off the teacher for even an instant.

James had chalked this up to insanity, and had recommended that they put their cousin in an institution, an idea which Fred had been all for, but when Rose got wind of it they had received a rather nasty Howler from James' mum, so that plan was scrapped rather quickly. The sound of your mother's voice, magnified a thousand times over, reverberating off the walls of the Great Hall at you whilst all of Hogwarts listened was not something that you want to have happen again.

However, from what James had heard, the Gryffindors actually had it a lot better than the other three Houses did. The Ravenclaw's Common Room was on the opposite side of the Castle, and so got the full brunt of the wind, as opposed to the Gryffindors who only got a little bit of wind. From what Jason had said, he hadn't been able to sleep in weeks due to the sound of the harsh winter wind beating on the shingled rooftop.

The Hufflepuffs had it even worse than the Ravenclaws, they were in the dungeons, and their Common Room got excruciatingly cold in the mornings. Plus, unlike the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, their Dormitories did not have their own heat sources: just the Common Room itself.

It had gotten so bad that most of the Hufflepuffs were sleeping in the Common Room, either draped over furniture or curled up in little heaps of blankets on the floor. Christian told James one day that he usually kept his robes on when he slept for an extra layer of warmth.

But, from what Leon and Scorpius told them, the Slytherin's had it the absolute worst! Due to an old Slytherin Proverb that 'The Purity of our Blood Shall Warm us' the Slytherin Common Room had only a very small fireplace, leaving the Dungeon Common Room no better than the frigid corridors of the Castle. The Slytherin students couldn't even stay in the Common Room for warmth, because it was barely any better than their Dormitories.

It had never occurred to James that some of the other Houses might have been exaggerating their predicament to make it sound as though they had it worse than everyone else. So he believed everything that everyone else told him, though Albus was somewhat less trusting.

"What a load of rubbish." Al muttered when Paul walked away from the Gryffindor Table one morning, fresh off another of his sob stories about how cold the Ravenclaw Common Room was.

"What do you mean Al?" James asked, "You're telling me he made all of that up?"

Albus had rolled his eyes saying "Maybe not, but he's stretching the truth quite a bit, I'll tell you that."

James had been outraged that Albus would say something like that about one of their friends, and he had been on the verge of protesting when Andrew intervened,

"He's right you know James." Andrew said casually, not even bothering to look up from the Quidditch Scores he was reading in the Daily Prophet. "The Ravenclaw Tower isn't on the opposite side from us, it's just the one across from us, and we get the same wind flow that they do."

James opened his mouth to complain that Andrew was jumping to conclusions, but had to admit that he was telling the truth, he was right: the Astronomy Tower was opposite them, not Ravenclaw. And on that same note, wasn't the Fireplace in the Slytherin Common Room enchanted so that it heated the entire Common Room, despite its size?

"OK, so maybe they might have been exaggerating just a little bit." James admitted, realizing that he too had exaggerated the Gryffindor situation somewhat when he had told Leon that the Gryffindor Common Room only had two chairs and they had to constantly fight over them.

It struck James as odd that they were all arguing over who had it the worst, but then they _did_ compete over everything else …

* * *

James had been hoping, begging, pleading that the weather would miraculously change before their Quidditch Match the next morning. He was certain that if things stayed this cold then he would probably freeze to him broomstick midway through the game.

Unfortunately for James, the weather had no intent on changing before the Match the next morning, and so the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch Teams were going to have to freeze it out on the Quidditch Pitch.

"I'm telling you right now Jeremey," James said, "If you're ever going to make one of those quick little two minute catches, today would be a great time for it."

The Gryffindors were sitting at their House Table in the Great Hall, huddled over small flames that had been conjured up by the N.E.W.T. students.

"Hey Victoire," James said pleadingly, "You think they'd let me bring one of these up with me?" he asked, looking up at his older cousin fretfully.

With a nasty grin, Victoire flicked her wand at the fire which disappeared with a pop. As James looked pleadingly up at her, she said "That'll teach you not to mess with me James Potter!"

God, what had he ever done to her? Well, apart from that one time he'd walked in on her and Teddy snogging …

* * *

As James took to the sky with the other Gryffindor players, he could feel his hands starting to freeze to his broomstick. He experimentally tried to pry his hands away from his Numbus 3,000 and felt his skin pealing and heard a low cracking sound as shards of ice between his skin and the wood were broken.

The game was almost a farce it was so affected by the temperatures. The Chasers were having a hard time catching the Quaffle because the ball was so hard and frozen. The Gryffindor Keeper, Nicholas Hayden, was playing extremely tentatively; almost afraid to let the rock-solid Quaffle hit him.

Players were shivering on their broomsticks as they flew around the Pitch, and the stands were next to deserted. Only the most dedicated of the school's students had trudged out to the Pitch today. There were a few dozen Hufflepuffs, a few more Gryffindors, and fewer than a dozen Ravenclaws and Slytherins put together.

The only people who seemed unbothered by the Pitch's frigid conditions were Jeremey Zach and Christian. Even Alex wasn't playing up to snuff in the freezing cold weather.

Christian, as opposed to Nicholas Hayden on the Gryffindor end, was throwing himself in front of every Quaffle that was thrown him way … he really wanted to win this game no matter how much he beat himself up doing it. Clearly angered by his poor play in the first game of the season, Christian was proving that his play last year was no fluke.

Zach was blasting Bludgers around like a madman, playing like even the slightest mistake on his part would be unacceptable. If he wasn't too busy trying not to freeze to death in midair, Alex would probably be kissing his feet. Zach had already knocked both Hufflepuff Beaters out of the air, and was now proceeding to try and do the same to Hufflepuff Chaser Dwayne Powelly.

Then a streak of Scarlet raced across James' vision, followed by a streak of yellow: Jeremey and Billy were racing for the Snitch, but Jeremey was just a little faster, unimpeded by the cold and the wind like Billy was … but then, Jeremey had always fallen short against Billy Hewitt …

"Come on Jer." James muttered, freezing midway through an offensive rush to watch the developing chase for the Snitch. "Get us out of here." He pleaded, just wanting the Match to finally be over so that he could go inside and get warm.

The two streaking figures came together, battling against each other as well as the elements, the little golden ball inches away from the outstretched fingers of the two battling Seekers, knocking each other's hands back repeatedly as they fought for the slightest inch over the other.

Then, without the usual screaming or yelling that would accompany most such moments, Jeremey pulled up, the Snitch clutched in his fingers and a look of victory in his eyes as he let out a hoarse yell and pumped his fist: he had beaten out Billy Hewitt at last!

* * *

Back in the warmth of the Gryffindor Common Room, Zach was the hero of the day after having knocked three Hufflepuff Players off their brooms during the Match. The Gryffindor Team, red cheeked and trembling with what was probably the onset of hypothermia, had made sure that everyone knew how well Zach, who had never really been recognized for anything, had been the star of the game.

The whole thing was proving to be a little too much to Zach, who had never been such a center of attention. In James' personal opinion, he was letting the attention go a bit to his head.

"And then," Zach was saying to the large group of students gathered around him like he was a renowned story teller recounting some epic tale or legend, "I saw the Snitch flying past me, so I hit it with my bat just like a Bludger towards Jeremey…"

It was all James could do not to dissolve in laughter at Zach's story. If you believed half the things that he'd said than not only did he knock three Hufflepuff Players out of the game, but he also was largely responsible for all of Gryffindor's goals, and even managed to prevent Hufflepuff from scoring several times; not to mention hitting the Snitch directly into Jeremey's outstretched palm.

But then, seeing as hardly a soul had actually attended the game, it was quite easy for Zach to exaggerate a bit. Meanwhile everyone was wide-eyed and horrified at having missed what might have been the most amazing Quidditch play ever seen at Hogwarts.

"Hey mate," James said, finding Jeremey sitting on the couch midway through his second or third butterbeer, "Nice catch out there today, but have you heard this pot of rubbish that Zach's been spouting?"

Jeremey grinned as he slammed the empty bottle down on the table and said "Yea I know, bloody hysterical isn't it? I told him to do it!"

James raised one eyebrow quizzically, since when did Jeremey Hall willingly pass up on the credit for anything.

"You told him to do it?" James asked skeptically.

"Yea, totally." Jeremey said, "He's never getting the credit for anything, you know? It's always us, you know: you and Al got the famous dad, and I've got the Quidditch skill, and everyone knows that Andrew's the funny one, so I figured it'd be good for him to get a bit of attention for once."

"I see," James said, noting that Jeremey was juggling a handful of Galleons as he said this, "And you're not just cashing in on Zach's desire for attention?"

Looking scandalized, Jeremey pocketed the Galleons and said "We can't all be Saints can we James?"

**Sorry that this chapter is rather uneventful. Blame last-year me. If you'd like, you could borrow my time machine to go back in time beat my past self up. :P**

**I can promise you lot's of action in the next chapter, which should be up soon. Thank you all for following, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15: A Cold War

Chapter Fifteen: A Cold War

The hype surrounding the Quidditch Game died down somewhat over the next few days, as the still frigid temperatures were getting to everyone. As a result, Zach's ten minutes of fame really were much closer to ten minutes than anything else.

However, James could not forget what Jeremey had said to him in the Common Room, and the more he thought about it the more he came to realize that _everyone_ at Hogwarts knew his name, and just about everyone wanted to be his friend. But how many of them actually wanted to be his friend, and how many of them just wanted to be close to Harry Potter's son?

He hadn't really paid it much mind before, but everywhere he went people would stop and stare at him, and Albus had it even worse. Though James shared a slight resemblance with his father, Albus Severus Potter may as well have been called Harry Potter Jr. for all the good that it would have done. Except for the lack of a lightning scar on his forehead, Albus was a carbon copy of their father.

Of course, whenever the two boys went somewhere together, they had about half of the school trailing behind them. James had never really appreciated just how many people just came up and talked to him for seemingly no reason at all. One day, when he was discussing the best way to sneak into the kitchens with Albus and Fred he was randomly approached by some Third Year student who asked him where the bathrooms were. Seriously? At least try and be less obvious!

The thing that James, for the life of him, could not understand was what these people thought they were going to accomplish by talking to them. Were they really that desperate to exchange words with the sons of Harry Potter? Looking back on his First Year, he realized that he must have been completely oblivious to the world around him not to have noticed it!

Actually, come to think of it, that actually made perfect sense.

* * *

As the end of January neared, the Castle was starting to warm somewhat. It was still unbearably cold, but some of the snow and ice that coated the grounds was beginning to melt, and so James was hopeful that things would soon be warm enough for them to resume their midnight jaunts around the Castle.

As it was, sneaking around the Castle at the dead of night was all but impossible because it was so cold. Even James didn't want to leave the warmth of Gryffindor Tower for the frigid corridors of the school at night merely for the purpose of causing a little more trouble than he could have during the day. It was so cold at night that he could freeze to death if he went out into the Forest!

It was on one of these, slightly warmer days, that James and Albus decided to brave the freezing weather long enough to take a walk around the grounds, something that they hadn't been able to do in some months. That had been the plan however, until Leon arrived in a huff.

James had not expected to see Leon that day, as he had heard that the boy was sick in the Hospital Wing. Leon most certainly looked sick, his face was extremely pale, and James would not have been surprised if he had toppled over on the spot.

"My folks wrote me last night." He explained, his voice sounding hoarse and cracked as though he had not gotten any sleep the night before, "They said that if I keep hanging around with Gryffindors they're going to pull me out of school."

Rose looked as though she couldn't care less, but rather tactfully tried to show some concern for the Slytherin boy. "What are you going to do?" she asked, sounding quite bored and disinterested.

Leon however, must have mistaken her boredom for sincere concern, as he exclaimed in distress "I don't know! I _knew_ this was going to happen I just knew it!"

Everyone looked extremely uncomfortable, as though wishing they could think of something to say, Scorpius on the other hand didn't look at all concerned. On the contrary, he looked absolutely pissed.

"So, you're just gonna ditch all of us because your mummy wants you to? You're unbelievable Leon!" Scorpius sneered, staring up at Leon with a look of the utmost contempt.

Leon turned to face his Housemate angrily, his voice a rancorous growl as he snapped "Well I didn't say that did I _Malfoy?_ But maybe I should if that's how you're going to be about it?"

"Good! Please do us all a favor!" Scorpius snapped back. "You think that any of our parents were thrilled about it? My parents threatened to disown me at first! Rose's parents thought that I drugged her!"

James stiffened, Scorpius had never mentioned having gone to his parents already, clearly it was not an experience he had felt like sharing. Jeez, and he thought that his relatives had been bad. Could Draco Malfoy really have threatened to disown his only son?

"Look guys, I think we all need to calm down." Albus said, typically trying to mediate the growing tension between the two Slytherin boys.

"Don't bother Albus," Scorpius spat, "Leon isn't going to bother with you any more, just because his precious mummy is too much of a hag to let her precious son associate with Gryffindors, and he's too much of a wimp to stand up to his parents! He's a …"

However Scorpius was unable to finish his sentence, as Leon had decided that enough was enough. Unlike James, Albus, or any of the others, Leon had never been very good at spell casting, so he instead resorted to his only other available weapon: his fists.

Perhaps if he hadn't been trying to stop Albus from telling Scorpius where he could go shove his excuses, James would have been able to stop what was about to happen. Out of the corner of his eye, James saw the whole terrible affair.

The world seeming to be in slow motion as Leon swung his fist through the air and connected with Scorpius' jaw, sending a resounding crack echoing through the grounds as though someone had just Apparated. The blonde haired boy reeled backwards and collapsed to the floor in a heap, a trickle of blood sliding from his lower lip.

"Leon!" James exclaimed, staring at his friend in shock, uncertain whether or not he should fight the boy. Ordinarily he would have attacked anyone who dared to go after his friend … but Leon was his friend too.

However, Leon was not looking at him, or at Scorpius, or at any of them. He was looking away from them, his back to the rest of them, as though he would not disgrace himself by so much as look at them.

"My mother was right about you lot." Leon spat, "You're nothing but a bunch of self serving prats who think that they can get whatever they want because of who their parents are!"

"Oi, you leave my father out of this!" James and Albus thundered simultaneously, why was Leon talking like this? What had happened to the boy since they had last spoken to him the day before?

"Yea, whatever, I don't care anymore." Leon said with a sneer, "Just stay the heck away from me." And with that, Leon disappeared around the corner without another word, leaving them all staring after him dumbly.

"What in Merlin's name was that all about?" asked Albus, glancing at Scorpius, who was still leaking blood like a broken faucet.

"I dunno," James said, looking as though he wanted very much to punch something "Let's just get Scorpius to the Hospital Wing."

James and Albus propped Scorpius up between them, despite his insistences that he was perfectly capable of walking on his own, and helped him to the Hospital Wing. Both Potter boys looking for all the world as though Leon had punched _them_.

"Scorp, what in Merlin's name is going on with Leon?" James asked, thinking that Scorpius may have seen something going on before then in the Slytherin Common Room that would explain what had just occurred.

Still covering his bleeding nose, Scorpius replied "I dunno James, I guess he's just scared or something."

James shook his head, he had known all along that you could never trust a Slytherin to be loyal to anyone but themselves! He had been a fool to trust Leon … or Scorpius, well that was a mistake that he wasn't going to be making again!

* * *

In the coming weeks, Leon adamantly refused to so much as look at any of the other boys, and no matter how many times they tried to get him to explain what was going on, the Slytherin boy refused to say so much as a single word to them. Even a 'I don't want to talk right now' would have been nice, but no; he remained completely mute.

According to Scorpius, Leon was almost never in the Slytherin Common Room these days, so if he was even in the dungeons at all he must just be going straight up into the Dorms. Jeremey said he had heard that Leon was now hanging around with 'more suitable' Pure Blood Slytherin friends, but again none of them had actually seen anything to support this observation.

James, of course, was still set in his belief that no Slytherin could ever be trusted to stay true to anyone for long, and was determined to begin distancing himself from that Malfoy punk as well.

Of course, they all had their various theories as to why Leon had so suddenly grown so distant, but it was Jeremey and Fred who had taken the cake for the most unbelievable explanation.

"I'm telling you," Fred said that morning in the Great Hall, "The reason that Leon's suddenly stopped talking to us is because HE is the Heir!"

Needless to say, there had been quite a lot of laughter over this one. Everyone, except for Jeremey that is, had found this to be the most unlikely and hysterical explanation that they had ever heard.

"Oh come on, I thought we were over that load of rubbish." Complained Rose, shaking her head in disbelief that they were still talking about something so stupid.

"No, no, it actually does make a lot of sense." Jeremey said when everyone else had began telling Fred what a nutter he was for thinking something as messed up and crazy as that.

"Alright then, you're a nut case too then." Zach had told Jeremey, still laughing at the very idea of Leon Bartlett being the Heir of Slytherin. After all, being realistic here, half of Leon's family wasn't even in Slytherin! His Uncle had been in Gryffindor for Christ's sake!

"You're out of your mind," James said dismissively, not taking more than half a second to consider the idea, even if he was ticked off with him, there was absolutely no way that Leon Bartlett was even remotely connected to Slytherin … it was just all wrong.

"No, I really think I'm onto something here." Fred said, "I mean, think about it. The Heir supposedly doesn't know who he is! The Magical History Movement's after him, and they want this guy more than anything! So Leon finds out that it's him, I dunno how, maybe Old Salazar himself visited him in a dream or something,"

Fred's theory grew even more wildly unrealistic from that point forward. It was all fun and well to guess and speculate, but if there was one thing that James knew for a fact, it was that Leon Bartlett was definitely not the Heir of Slytherin.

After all, with his parents being the Pure Blood maniacs that they were, they probably would have scoured the family tree countless times for any connections to Wizard Royalty. If they had found any such link, they doubtless would have boasted about it by now.

"I'm still convinced that it's Parker." Albus said, "It just fits so much better, like where do you think he's going every time that he leaves the school?"

Remington Parker, for reasons that had never been explained to anyone, left the school every Friday evening, only to return in time for his classes early Monday morning. Albus had long since theorized that it was during these departures from the Castle that he received his instructions from the Magical History Movement.

A stretch though it may have been, it was still their best theory, especially considering that Remington had been in an especially putrid mood lately, and was in a 'jinx first ask questions later' kind of way. It was someone like _that_ that you'd expect to see with Slytherin's Crest on his belongings.

In other words they, naturally, had nothing but suspicion and guesswork by which to go by. However, all of the facts that they had pointed towards Remington, or at the very least someone close to him: that was Rose's theory.

Rose was of the opinion that Remington was nothing more than a decoy, a smokescreen being used to draw attention away from the real Heir, which would mean that it had to be someone close to him. Richard Gomez was at the top of Rose's list, but James was adamant that if Remington was covering for anyone then it would have to be Lance Felter who, though being only a Fourth Year, had a reputation for being one of the best duelers in the school, and hated everything to do with Gryffindor and Muggle Borns.

"Just think about it Rose, how else could he be such a good dueler! He even beat Professor Wilkins from what I heard!"

Professor Wilkins was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and while she may have been everyone's favorite teacher, she was still a dangerous dueler. Before coming to teach at Hogwarts she had been one of the most feared duelers in the British circuit.

"You talking about Felter?" asked a loud voice coming from behind James. Turning around, James saw a tall student staring down at him. Pushing his blond hair out of his eyes, the student said "Kenneth Skyland, I think you know my cousin Michael."

James had no idea who he was talking about, but apparently Jeremey did.

"Gate?" Jeremey asked quizzically, at which the older student nodded, and at last James realized who they were talking about. Michael Gate was their teammate on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. In fact, he was pretty sure he'd seen Mike talking to this kid once after a game.

"Yea," Ken said, apparently eager to say whatever it is he had come to say. "Anyway, I think you might be right though. See, last week I saw him sneaking out into the forest in the dead of night, and when he came back he had this package with him. Pretty sketchy if you ask me!"

James spared a moment to nod triumphantly at his friends as though to say 'told you so!', and then turned back to Ken and opened his mouth to thank him, but Zach beat him to it.

"Wait a minute … what were you doing that you saw him?" Zach demanded.

Shrugging him off as though it was a matter of no importance, Ken replied "Ah, I was going to try and find this passageway, but I wound up following this other kid who kept muttering to the air, something about not wanting to do something, even though it was his 'destiny' or some stupid crap like that. I dunno."

The mouths of the younger students all fell open, was Ken really that dense, or was he just playing dumb. It really didn't matter either way, they needed to know who that kid was! If it was Parker, then maybe it really was him.

"Who?" exclaimed Fred, drawing glares from everyone else sitting around him. Couldn't he at least _try_ and be subtle?

Fortunately, Ken still hadn't seemed to notice that something was up, as he replied without any fanfare. "Umm, what the hell's that kid's name? Lenny, no that's not it?"

Ken stood there in silence for several moments before someone finally spoke, it was Luke.

"Leon?" he said, his voice barely more than a breath.

"Yea! That was it Leon!" Ken replied, seemingly very pleased with himself for having figured it out.

As Kenneth walked off, looking mighty proud of himself the others exchanged looks of horror. No, it couldn't be.

* * *

It was not until the first week of February that they finally found out what Leon had been up to since they had fought. By this time, the frost outside the Castle was beginning to thaw, but the frost covering their friendship was just beginning to harden and solidify.

It was Darren who saw him first, informing the others at breakfast like a herald bearing news of the death of a beloved statesman. At first, they had refused to believe him, but eventually they saw the truth for their own eyes.

As James glanced over at the Slytherin Table, he felt a chill frosting his bones that had nothing to do with the cold. Leon Bartlett had become friends with Remington Parker!

**Thanks to everyone for following, and please remember to REVIEW!**

**Just a quick side note, because I know this question is coming. Yes, Kenneth really is that stupid.**

**So, who really is the Heir of Slytherin? Is it Remington? Is it Lance Felter? Is it Leon? Is it Rich Gomez...wait who the hell is Rich Gomez? Oh that's right. You haven't met him yet. But you will...oh, you will! Who could it be? Is it Scorpius? No, Harry already disproved that one. Wait...could it possibly be Kenneth Skyland the witless wonder?**

**OK, I will promise you right now that Kenneth Skyland is NOT the Heir of Slytherin.**

**Anyway, hope you keep reading, and enjoying and REVIEWING!  
**


	16. Chapter 16: Bridging the Gap

Chapter Sixteen: Bridging the Gap

As January changed to February, it took with it the last dregs of the freezing cold weather. At long last the glacial layer of frost that had coated the grounds was beginning to melt away, and it was almost warm enough to begin spending time outdoors again.

Of course, waiting until it actually _was_ warm enough to go outside without freezing to death was something that the Gryffindor Quidditch Team would never consider, and so the day that the temperature finally rose above ten degrees Fahrenheit, Alex demanded that the Players trudge out to the Pitch or he would replace the lot of them.

No one, not even James, was mad enough to mess with Alex when he got that crazy glint in his eyes, and this was one of those times. So, not even pointing out that they had won their last Match handily was enough to save the dejected and shivering, the Gryffindors from being forced to shuffle through the melting snow and ice out to the Quidditch Pitch.

As it turned out, all the off time of doing little more than sitting around in the Common Room and classrooms all day had dulled their skills somewhat, and their first practice was an absolute train wreck. James dropped the Quaffle no fewer than seven times in the first five minutes, and Jeremey never was able to catch the Snitch that they'd given him to practice with. In the end, Alex had angrily grabbed it out of the air when it flew past him and thrown it at Jeremey in disgust.

"You guys sucked." Zach ribbed them in the locker room afterwards, "James I don't think I've ever seen _anyone_ drop the Quaffle that many times, and I've seen the Chudley Cannons play."

The last comment got a angry glare from James, but other than that James didn't say anything, Zach was right. He had played like absolute rubbish! He was glad that there hadn't been anyone else there to watch him, because he would have been laughed at had anyone seen!

Noticing Jeremey sniggering and high-fiving Zach behind his back, James snapped "Yea well, where were you out there Captain Canada? I thought you love all this cold weather? You played even worse than I did!"

Jeremey just kept laughing and said lazily "Aw can it James, our next Match isn't for another two weeks, and it's against _Ravenclaw!_ Come on, that Shindler kid is good, but he's got nothing on me! I mean, he's _Darren's_ brother, how good can he really be?"

"Way you played today, you sure that you aren't their long lost brother?" James muttered, still angry about how he had played. He had never done so poorly in his entire life, how had he gotten so bad so fast.

Jeremey rolled his eyes and muttered cheekily in reply "Yea, when Canada thaws mate."

James simply groaned, and flopped down on the couch, all these extra practices were going to kill him!

Yet much to his surprise, those two weeks went by very quickly, at least by the time February the Twenty First rolled around the Grounds was no longer the Arctic wasteland that it had once been. In fact, it was beginning to feel much more like Spring than Winter, and students were again congregating on the once more grassy lawns of Hogwarts.

* * *

Unlike the Match against Hufflepuff, where they had been far too cold to really think about it, the Gryffindors were taking much more time to prepare for the upcoming Match against Ravenclaw. A win would go a long way towards making sure that they got back to the Finals, while a loss would leave it all up in the air.

However, unlike during the Finals the previous year, James was perfectly relaxed the morning before the game against Ravenclaw. After all, he was a 'veteran' of nearly half a dozen Matches by this point, he knew what he was doing. There was no way he was going to let a bunch of geek Ravenclaws beat him again!

By contrast, Zach was still looking extremely tense and nervous. This was, admittedly, only his second game, and his first before a large crowd. Still, as much as James would incessantly deny it, he was doing much better than James had the year before. He had been able to stomach just about all of his breakfast, and he wasn't looking all that pale.

"Make sure you don't get pummeled in the first couple of minutes." James was advising him helpfully, trying to get his friend to freak out before the game started. Unfortunately, he was not having very much luck, Zach's performance in the first game of the year seemed to have been enough of an ego boost to get him through the rest of the season without too many jitters.

"Remember not to drop your bat." Jeremey added a few minutes later as they were changing in the locker room, "That'd be really bad. Then you'd have to hit the Bludgers with your bare hands." Everyone laughed at this, except for Zach who just muttered something under his breath that he probably would not have said if his parents had been within earshot. Even Alex couldn't help but join in.

"What'd be wrong with that?" asked Alex, showing remarkably good humor considering how close to the game it was. "I mean, unless you wanted to do it the _boring_ way?"

* * *

As it would happen, Zach didn't drop his bat, James managed to keep from dropping the Quaffle again, and the Gryffindor Team played an all but flawless game. Unfortunately, there was one small flaw that undermined the entire rest of the game: Jeremey didn't catch the Snitch.

It wasn't really his fault, Justin Shindler had caught sight of the Snitch and snatched it out of the air before Jeremey had even had time to chase after him. The worst part was that Gryffindor had been leading by eighty points when the Snitch had been caught, so it was a game that they should never have lost.

After the game, Jeremey immediately grumbled something about going to 'crawl up in his sock drawer' to hide from the shame of the loss that Gryffindor had faced because of his screw up, and disappeared. James knew better than to try and go after his friend after a loss like this one. Jeremey was such a perfectionist that he took every loss like it was the end of the world; it was rather childish and stupid to be honest.

After the game, James and Zach had run into Jason and Paul making their way towards Ravenclaw Tower, the four exchanged looks, but continued on their ways without saying a word to each other.

It had nothing to do with the loss, James had learnt his lesson not to react that way after last year's Final, but James had simply grown away from those friends during this year. It probably came from him spending a lot of his time with Albus and Scorpius, but he just didn't seem to have the time for the other guys.

It was rather sad that, after being so close in their First Year, they had drifted apart like that. True they still hung out on occasion, but the close-knit unit that they had once been was no more. Or, more accurately, James was simply no longer a part of it. Barely did a day go by when he did not see the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff members of their old gang talking together in the hallways, but he had just never felt the desire to jump in.

When he thought about it, James realized that he missed those days of just sitting on the lakeshore with those guys. Sure he still did it with his other friends, but there was no replacing Dwayne's ridiculous Southern American accent, Jason's hysterical quips, and Nick's quiet observations that always lent themselves humorously to the conversation.

* * *

Biting his lip, James turned around and chased after the two shouting "Hey Jason! Paul! Wait up!"

For his part, it had taken Zach a good minute or two before he even realized James had disappeared.

He had needed to chase them down three corridor, Zach nowhere to be seen, before finally getting their attention midway down the Charm's Corridor. The pair turned slowly, as though unsure of what James could possibly want to talk to them for. Then again, considering that James had probably not spoken to them since before Christmas, it probably did seem a little odd.

"James?" Paul answered tentatively, probably afraid that James was going to lay into them again for daring to beat Gryffindor at Quidditch. An understandable fear considering how James had reacted the last time Gryffindor had lost a Quidditch Match.

However, James was not perceptive enough to pick up on this, and so continued on as though Paul had answered him as enthusiastically and cheerfully as a child speaking to their hero would.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" James asked as though this were a normal conversation that happened between them every day. He had never been very good at reading social cues, as any normal person would have realized that the other two boys were clearly in a hurry and gotten straight to the point. But, of course, James thought that he was the most important person in the entire universe and that everyone should rearrange their schedules accordingly with his wishes.

"Erm, I'm fine." Jason answered, looking over his shoulder impatiently and adding "Look James, can you just get on with whatever it is that you needed to say, cause we're kind of late to the Party."

James looked affronted, was some stupid victory party really more important to them than what their friend wanted to say to them?

Then again, were they really even friends anymore? Sure they hadn't hung out in what seemed like forever, but they had all been in the Forest together the year before! And once you went through things like that with someone that made you friends for life, didn't it?

Hiding his surprise at the way that the other two were being so short with him, James said "Well, I know we haven't really hung out this year as much as we used to so I was wondering if you guys wanted to get together next week. You know, just hang out on the lake like we used to."

Jason and Paul looked uncertain, and for a few moments, James was sure that they were going to shove his offer back in his face. He was sure that they were going to say that they had better things to do than hang out with him now, in fact … they probably would have said that, had it not been for what happened just before they were able to answer.

"Well …" Jason began, but before he could finish, Zach skidded around the corner and leaned against the wall panting, "Jeez James, couldn't you tell me where you're going next time?"

Looking up, he caught sight of the Ravenclaw boys and said "Oh hey guys, geez seems like forever since I've seen you guys. We really need to catch up some time!"

James laughed mirthlessly and said "That's what I was just saying, what do you reckon guys? Just for old time's sake if nothing else?" he added when the two still looked rather noncommittal.

Finally, Paul shrugged and Jason answered "Yea, why not, we'll all come down. Besides, Erin hasn't shut up about how we ditched you guys for the last month."

James' heart did almost stopped beating. Erin missed him? It almost seemed too good to be true!

"Maybe we'll give you some help too …" Paul added when Jason stopped, "You guys are seriously going to need it if you want to beat Slytherin in April."

What was he talking about? Beat Slytherin … Oh! Quidditch, of course, now that they had lost to Ravenclaw they were going to need to beat Slytherin to have a chance of making it to the Finals. He had, somehow, managed to completely forget about Quidditch.

"Yea, good win." Zach said sarcastically, "First and last time for everything eh?"

"Oh, now you're on!" shouted Jason as the four boys separated and returned to their two separate Common Rooms.

* * *

By the time they got back, as James had expected, Jeremey was already asleep, or at the very least was pretending to. However, after discussing their idea with Andrew, they decided to wake him so that they could fill him in on their plans. Though Jeremey had liked the plan, he hadn't seen the purpose of waking him to tell him, until James had pointed out that it was only 7:45.

So they'd returned to the Common Room to kill off a couple of hours, only to find Albus waiting there to rip into them.

The thing about Albus was that he didn't really get _that_ mad too often, but when he did he was a terrifying sight to behold. He just completely blew a gasket when he got ticked, and right now was one of those times!

"Honestly, I don't even know how you guys made the team if you're going to play like that!" Albus had shouted, in full on rant mode. James wasn't the only one who was a bit frightened, why was he reacting like this over a game of Quidditch? James didn't have the slightest idea, usually _he_ was the one who got like that over Quidditch Games, not Al.

"Well, why didn't you try out for the team then Al, if you're so great?" James shot back. However, apparently, this was not the right thing to say, as Albus had immediately grown red in anger and looked like he was about to tear James' head off. However, he caught Luke's eye and suddenly turned and stormed up to the Dormitories, the smaller boy just a few steps behind.

When James had trudged up those same stairs a half hour after his younger brother, he began to wonder whether they would ever be able to rebuilt those bonds that had once been there with Jason … Nick … Paul … Christian … Dwayne … and Erin, especially Erin.

Erin, still the mere thought of her name made his heart beat a thousand miles a minute. Even though he hadn't seen her in weeks, she had been in his thoughts constantly.

In some ways, he almost wished that he could think about something else. It pained him to think about her, but at the same time it pained him just as much not to think about her.

_This year is gonna be the one._ He thought as he pulled his sheets over his head, _This'll be the year that I'll make her see, I'll make her see…_

And before Andrew could arrive just moments later to ask him whether he thought that Professor Slughorn would mind that his Potion's Essay was just a half inch too short, James had already slipped off into his dreams.

**Sorry about taking so long with these updates guys, I've been very busy during these holidays and during the weeks beforehand and it totally screwed with my ability to get online to do these updates. Once again, I'm hoping that I'll be able to pick it up again, but after all the inactivity of late I've decided to stop making promises that I'm probably going to end up breaking. It's not intentional guys, so I'm really sorry!**

**Anyways, hope you liked this rather quiet but important chapter. Stay tuned for future updates and don't forget to REVIEW! Thanks for all the support guys! :)  
**


	17. Chapter 17: A Group Effort

Chapter Seventeen: A Group Effort

In many ways, James was right in his thoughts that things were not going to go right back to the way that they had been before. The simple matter was that so much time had passed, and they were all a little awkward around each other lately. Especially when you were dealing with school age children, who changed on a daily basis, you couldn't expect to just pick up right where you'd left off almost a year earlier.

Still, if they were going to try and bridge the gap that had emerged between them, they were taking some steps in the right direction. Of course, to his embarrassment, James was still unable to bring himself to have a conversation with Erin without making himself sound like a complete idiot.

It wasn't his fault; it was just that for some reason his brain decided that it was going to stop working every time Erin said something to him. He could talk to any other girl in the entire school and carry on a perfectly normal conversation, except for Erin.

They were scattered around the base of a tree on the shore of the Great Lake, arranged more or less in one large shapeless blob. James and Albus were leaning against the base of the tree, to James' left Jeremey was lying on his back in a patch of grass, twirling a leaf around between his fingers. On Jeremey's left were Zach and Andrew, both of whom were leaning on one knee, too lazy to stand but unwilling to sit in the dirt and get the back of their robes covered in muck.

Beyond Zach and Andrew, at the furthest point of the 'circle' were Paul and Jason, who were propped up against each other back to back like two planks of wood that could not support their own weight. Next to them were Dwayne and Scorpius, who were the only two in the 'circle' who were standing, mainly because they were the only two who couldn't stand the thought of getting dirt on their robes. Beside them were Darren and Fred, who hadn't been bothered by the dirt floor and were lying on their backs like Jeremey, followed by Luke and Rose who were also kneeling. Lastly were Christian and Erin, who sat in another patch of grass beneath the tree, much like the one Jeremey was lying in on the other side of the tree.

It had taken a while for the group to actually start talking to each other, though most of them had been friends at one point or another, they had not spoken to many of them for some time. As it happened, none of them were really sure how to start a conversation with the others.

Several times James had tried to say something, but every time the crushing silence had struck him mute. And from the look of things he was not alone, several of the others opened their mouths as though about to say something, only to clamp them closed moments later.

Albus had been the one to finally get the conversation started by asking Christian about his relatives in the American Quidditch League, and James had taken the chance to try and talk to Erin. As far as his decisions went, this was not one that was likely to make his list of smartest moves.

It quickly became apparent to James that the more he spoke, the more he looked like a complete idiot, but for some reason he simply could not stop. Rather than say things that would make him sound funny, or nice, or anything that would be even remotely attractive, James instead said things that made him sound like a nasty uncaring jerk.

"I was thinking," Erin began, "of trying out for the Quidditch Team next year. You know, Ravenclaws losing a couple of players, and we're going to need some new blood to replace them ..."

The smart thing to do, James realized later, would have been to tell her that it was a great idea, that she was sure to make the team and that she was an exceptional Quidditch Player. Those would have been good ideas, however James was not exactly brimming with good ideas at the moment, and said probably the stupidest thing that he could possibly have said at that moment.

"What for?" he asked disinterestedly, tossing a small pebble in the air, paying more attention to the little rock than he was to the people he was actually speaking to. "I mean, you don't really expect to make the team do you?" James said, the words coming out of his mouth before he'd had a moment to think about what he was saying.

"Excuse me?" Erin demanded indignantly, looking at James as though he had just suggested that they go on a killing spree in Hogsmeade. Then again, perhaps things would have gone over better if James had suggested something of that nature instead.

"I will have you know James Potter that I could be twice the Quidditch Player that you ever were!" Erin snapped, crossing her arms and looking away from James in a huff.

You'd think James would have realized the grave he was digging for himself and cut his losses, but no he carried on as though there was nothing even slightly wrong with what he was saying.

"Yea right." James scoffed, glancing at Albus and laughing. He was expecting his brother to join in, but the younger Potter remained silent, looking at his brother with an expression that read 'you are _so_ screwed'.

"Oh come on Al?" James insisted, misinterpreting his brother's expression to reflect disagreement, "You can't honestly tell me that you think _Erin_ would make a good Quidditch Player? I mean, come on!" James was practically laughing at this point, it all seemed too funny to him.

You had to feel bad for the kid.

Before James had time to react, Erin had whacked him on the side of the head with her Potion's Book shouting "Ugh! You are SO obnoxious sometimes!"

* * *

OK, so maybe some things were still the same: like Erin still thinking that he was obnoxious and over sarcastic all the time. Everyone else thought that he was so funny when he said things like that, but for some reason Erin seemed to find it offensive. He was going to need to work on that.

Jeremey on the other hand, much to James' annoyance, was seemingly having no trouble talking to Erin. Saying all the right things and making her laugh just about every time he opened his mouth. The longer he watched the more he began to grow red with frustration and even a little bit of jealousy.

James was going to have to have a talk with his best friend about this later; Jeremey wasn't supposed to get Erin, he was! Sure they had agreed that they'd let her decide in the end, but he was James Potter: he wasn't going to lose his girl to some Canadian git … even if he was his best friend! OK, so Jeremey wasn't a git, but you get the point.

Other than James' continued lack of success in that department however, things had gone remarkably better than he had been expecting. After the initial awkwardness had subsided, everyone had gotten on pretty well, and the conversations didn't feel as forced as James had been thinking that they would be.

But still, it wasn't quite the same, and James doubted that it ever would be again. But he could live with that, of course it wasn't like he really had a choice.

* * *

Later that week, James was sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Jeremey discussing what they were going to do about Leon. Though Leon had clearly abandoned them to hang around with Remington 'Arsehole' Parker, Jeremey was still of the opinion that they could get him to come around. James however, was not quite as convinced.

"Look Jer," James began tiredly "I know he was our friend and all but he's gone over to the dark side now! He's aligned himself with the enemy, so just forget about it." James said, sounding perhaps just a tad bit overly dramatic.

Jeremey, naturally, was not fazed by James' over dramatic displays, he had gotten used to them over the last year and a half, and so it was with a roll of his eyes at Jeremey replied "Look James, I think you're being a tad bit melodramatic here."

"And that surprises you why?" Andrew interrupted, approaching the pair from where he had been writing his Charm's Essay in the far side of the Gryffindor Tower. Jeremey and James had left him to it, not wanting to have to listen to him getting on their backs for not doing their Essays: which were due in just two days time. Andrew was funny and everything, but he just took his class work a little too seriously.

Once they had explained the situation to Andrew, he offered his opinion which, rather unsurprisingly, was a bit of a compromise between the two that they had suggested. Whether intentional or not, Andrew's ideas always seemed to be the most neutral possibility.

"Well, I don't think that he's exactly sold his soul to the devil James, but you're right there's no point in us trying to get him to come around." Jeremey was starting to protest, but Andrew silenced him saying "Leon's made his choice, and nothing we say is going to change that."

Andrew seemed to have some kind of natural ability to get the rest of them to shut up and just listen to whatever it was he had said. Maybe it was because he so rarely got involved in their arguments, but whenever he did his judgment was usually final.

"Yea, he's getting all cozy with 'The Heir' now, learning all kinds of demonic magic isn't he?" Albus said sarcastically, leaning over the top of the couch between James and Jeremey. Albus still refused to believe that Remington, as much as they all may hate him, was really the Heir of Slytherin, and found it amusing that they all still thought he was.

"You know I've been thinking about that." Luke said as he approached the steadily growing group, "What if Remington used Dark Magic to force Leon to do his bidding or something?"

"No way." James said definitely, "What would be the point in enslaving a Second Year like Leon? No, he's definitely just turned into a total prick!"

"Our Uncle George is a terrible influence on you James." Rose said, looking up from her History of Magic Essay. James had not even noticed that she had been sitting across from them; Rose had a talent for making herself practically invisible when she wanted to be. She just slipped by everyone's notice.

Then again, that could come in handy sometimes, perhaps he could get Rose to teach him that trick sometime. Of course, it wasn't really a trick of any kind … James was just extremely inattentive.

Albus too often said that this would be a nice ability to have, as he often got annoyed with all the stares that came with being the son of Harry Potter. In this regard though, James diverted from his brother's view. James reveled in all of the attention that was directed his way. He loved every minute of it, especially considering that some of the glances were no longer just because of his father.

"Well what would you have us do Rose?" James demanded, not in the mood to listen to his cousin talk about how they should be studying rather than devoting so much attention to something so trivial.

"What we should do is kick his ass!" Luke said bitterly, drawing surprised looks from everyone. Luke was usually the sweet and quiet kid, he had never shown any violence towards anyone.

Apparently, Luke noticed the weird looks he was getting, as he said defensively "What? I mean, this is Treason we're talking about here!"

"I'm _never_ getting my essay done." Andrew said with a shake of his head.

"Tell me about it." Muttered Rose, as the rest of the Gryffindors began shouting over them.

* * *

In the end, James and the others had adopted a very mature and respectable plan on how they were going to respond to Leon's abandoning them for the hated Remington Parker. They were not going to try and talk sense into him, or beg him to come back, or be nasty to him every time that they saw him about the Castle.

No, they were going to be far more mature than that, they were not going to do any of those things. They were just going to ignore Leon, they weren't going to talk to him at all: but not in a 'You're dead to me' way, in a 'Random passerby in the halls' kind of way.

If Leon talked to them, then they would answer him, and they wouldn't be snappy or nasty about it. But at the same time they were not going to be looking to talk to him about anything. He had shown them his true colors, and now they were going to treat him as such.

Even Scorpius was on board with it. He was starting to find some other friends in Slytherin House, and as such he carried even more disdain for Leon than the rest of them did. Of course, Scorpius' sentiment was quite understandable, considering that the boy _had_ punched him in the face.

* * *

Unfortunately, the one problem with this plan was that it also involved randomly jinxing Leon whenever he wasn't paying any attention. As Rose had pointed out, that rather defeated the purpose of being mature and reasonable about the whole thing, but it was still the only thing that James had decided would satisfy his need for some kind of comeuppance.

While they were not as involved in their mission as the time that they had taken in turns to jinx Remington the year before, they still made sure not to miss out on an opportunity to turn Leon's hair pink right before class. Pretty childish stuff, but that was how they got their satisfaction out of Leon: even if it didn't seem to do much more than slightly irritate the Slytherin boy.

"Oi, did you see what I did to Leon?" one of them would ask, racing towards the others to share the news of the latest avenue by which they had exacted their sweet revenge on Leon; whether it was by causing his potion to explode in Professor Slughorn's face, or replacing his Cleansweep with an old mop.

Wait, so you thought that James was SERIOUSLY going to be mature about this? Like James Potter even knew what the word mature meant. Even if he had, the constant presence of Jeremey Hall and Fred Weasley would have whipped him back into shape.

Mature? Ha, that was a good one!


	18. Chapter 18: The Corridor That  Wasn't?

Chapter Eighteen: The Corridor that … Wasn't?

Incredibly as it would have seemed, it took James less than a week to get bored of throwing the occasional jinx at Leon. For some reason, messing with his old friend's life … even though that old friend had all but declared his hatred for him … was not quite as gratifying as he had thought it would be. While he was hurt by Leon's betrayal, James did not find the prospect of jinxing someone whom he had once shared a bond with to be a particularly amusing way to spend his time.

Other than Scorpius, who insisted that Leon had not yet learnt his lesson, the others were all glad to lay that to rest. To be perfectly fair, most of them had been reluctant to get involved in the plan in the first place. Besides, it felt - to James at least - that by finally putting aside that back and forth fighting that they were finally setting aside that chapter, and were moving on unencumbered by the past.

Of course, seeing Hufflepuff beat Slytherin in the upcoming Match would have been an added bonus, but James didn't see that as a very strong possibility. Everyone was betting heavily on the defending Champions who, shockingly, were out of contention with a record of 0-2, but James' gut told him that Hufflepuff wasn't going anywhere this year.

Jeremey, on the other hand, had spent the last few days telling anyone who would listen that Hufflepuff was ready to get back to their winning ways. He wasn't having a hard time convincing most people, who felt that it was only a matter of time before the Badgers returned to their previous level of play.

"They're just not the same team that they were last year." James argued, when the Match came up in a conversation with Zach, who was equally adamant in his belief that Hufflepuff was going to cream Slytherin … and kill Remington Parker in the process.

"But they're improving." Zach contested, "They've been in every game they played this year, they're only just falling short! They've gotta pull through sooner or later."

James was one of the few who remained unconvinced, he was certain that Slytherin would beat Hufflepuff, just because he was already in a bad enough mood.

* * *

Sure enough, when the day of the Match came, Slytherin powered aside the hapless Hufflepuff Team which, though it contained each and every one of the seven players who had lead the House to victory the year before, was simply unable to rekindle the flame that had lead them to victory in the previous year.

A lot of it came down, unfortunately, to Christian and Billy; though James would never have said that to their faces. The two had been unbeatable in Hufflepuff's Championship Drive the year before: Christian had not let anything get past him, and Billy chased the Snitch as though he had a radar system built into his head.

Now though, Christian let up soft goals, and Billy's flying looked positively normal, not to mention the fact that he seemed unable to locate the Snitch until it was already clenched in the fist of his competitor.

However, the thing that really alarmed James was the fact that Slytherin was 2-0, and they were looking exceptional with their team comprised entirely of 5th Years and up. If Gryffindor wanted to make it to the Finals again, and win this time, they were going to have to beat Slytherin to do it … twice! And at the moment, that seemed about as likely as the Chudley Cannons winning the League, though that was admittedly not the analogy that James would have chosen.

Unfortunately, Alex had realized this too and was drilling the Gryffindor Team constantly about how they needed to be out there every day practicing for the Match against Slytherin which they needed to win in order to have a chance at advancing to the Finals. By the end of the first week, James was fed up, but every time he told Alex to shove off the 7th Year simply made them stay out there practicing for even longer.

Soon, the entire team was plotting ways that they could kill Alex and put him out of their misery. James proposed rigging his broomstick to suddenly fail while he was three hundred feet in the air, unfortunately none of them knew how one would do such a thing. Which was probably a good thing: they were just kidding at the time, but you never knew …

"Come on James, you're flying so slow I almost mistook you for a goal-post! Let's go, move your arse before I kick it off my team!" Alex shouted, flying by James with a menacing look in his eye.

Jeremey seemed to be thoroughly enjoying this, quipping "Not that you could fly that fast anyway." With a stupid grin on his face.

"You too Hall! When's the last time you even _saw_ the Snitch?" Alex bellowed before taking a swipe at Jeremey with his leg. "If you haven't caught it in five minutes, I'm having your useless Canadian hide deported!"

Jeremey's grin slid from his face like water down a windowpane as he asked James "Can he really do that?" James shrugged at him pointedly, and the boy took off like a torpedo … albeit a terrified one.

* * *

James was now seeing his 'friends,' if they could refer to each other as such again, from the other Houses more often now that they had gotten the initial reunion out of the way, sometimes with all of them together, but more often with just one or two. However, for the most part James' time was spent with his Housemates, and with Scorpius. If his parents knew just how much time he and Albus spent with the Slytherin boy they would probably have had heart attacks, their relative acceptance of his presence at Christmas notwithstanding.

Apparently Scorpius' parents were once again talking to him, something that they had been adamantly refusing to do since he had mentioned his friendship with the Potters to them in mid January. True their owls were generally rather short and blunt, but at least there was some kind of communication going on there. Even if a lot of it went to the tune of 'Have you stopped hanging around those Blood Traitors yet?'

James suggested that Scorpius stop writing them, but admittedly that was a rather difficult thing to expect from him. Still, it was rather annoying to have to see Scorpius looking like he was about to cry every time he got a bit of post.

Now that March was here, which everyone knew was _so_ close to the end of the school year … apparently … Rose was spending even more time reading than James would have thought was possible, even for her.

"Rose, you gotta lighten up a little bit. Exams aren't for another three months!" James protested, which earned him only a nasty glare from Rose and a sideways glance from Albus that said 'don't even bother with her.'

But James Potter was never one to back down from a challenge, and Rose was presenting him with one that he could not possibly overlook right now. She was practically screaming at him, in terms of body language, to go over and try and tear her away from her books: something that James fully intended to accomplish before the night was out.

James glanced back at Albus and raised his eyebrows evilly "I'm gonna do it!" He said quietly, laughing at the horrified expression that had crossed his brother's face.

"Don't even try it James." Albus hissed quietly, "Haven't you known Rose for long enough to know what she'll do to you if you even come near her when she's trying to read? She'll rip your head off and then eat it for breakfast tomorrow morning!"

James laughed, but he knew that his brother was not really exaggerating all that much. Three summers ago, Rose had beaten her brother Hugo (who had been only 6 years old at the time) with her book when he had tried to get her to stop reading long enough to play some Exploding Snap. Poor Hugo had been jumpy and nerve wracked for the next two weeks after that incident! Something that James had been only too willing to exploit for a quick laugh.

Nevertheless, James was determined to not only go through with his plan, but more importantly to succeed at it. He didn't really have a plan in mind (but when did he ever), more like a sketchy outline of a plan that he was going to elaborate on as he went along. You know, just wing it and hope for the best.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Fred and Albus throwing handfuls of coins on the table, and realized that they were probably taking bets on what was going to happen to him. By the time he reached his cousin, half the Common Room had emptied their pockets onto the table: which annoyed James slightly. In retrospect, he wished that he had thought to ask for a commission of that money beforehand.

"Hey Red," James said, using the nickname that he only used when he _really_ wanted to get a rise out of Rose, she hated that nickname with a burning passion, though why James could never understand.

If he had red hair he supposed it would have been a perfectly good nickname, as it was though calling him 'black' or 'brown' or whatever the case may be (for some reason people could never agree _exactly_ what color his hair was) would just sound rather racist.

"What do you want James?" she asked, not even needing to look up from her book to know who was talking to her; there were only four people in the entire world who dared to call her that, and only one of them was at Hogwarts.

James, for his part, did not make things easier on himself by pretending to be affronted by her reply, "My my Red, I am surprised at you." He said, trying to sound as offended and hurt as he possibly could, "Here I am just trying to make a conversation with you, and you're throwing my words back in my face!"

James was on very thin ice as it was, if he didn't watch himself things were going to get very ugly very fast!

Rose, clearly, was in no mood to mince words at the moment, "What do you want James, I'm really not in the mood to play games with you right now! I'm trying to study, in case it has escaped your notice!"

Same old reply, he had heard it a thousand times before, and he was likely to hear it a thousand times again. What on earth had happened to his cousin? She had once been one of the most carefree people that he'd known, and now she was being an uptight 'studier' all of the time: it was frightening in the extreme that she had changed pace so quickly!

"That's just it Rosie-Poo," James said, really pushing his luck now with the obnoxious nicknames, it was amazing that she was able to restrain herself from pummeling him on the spot.

"You've done nothing but study 24/7 ever since we got to Hogwarts!" James continued, "You seriously need to spend some time off and have some fun or you're going to end up just like our Uncle Percy!"

OK, so that was a low blow, but Rose _was_ acting just like their stuck up and pretentious Uncle. Couldn't she see that what James was doing he was doing only for her own good? Then again, Rose was never one to take 'constructive criticism' very well, which was probably from her father. Uncle Ron was never very good when people tried to tell him that he was doing something incorrectly.

"Shut up James, our exams are in just three months!" She snapped, "If we don't start studying now then we're never going to be able to go over all of it in time!" James could not believe it, Rose was morphing into her mother right before his very eyes. Exams? Studying? Was she bloody kidding him or something?

"Aw come on Rose!" Albus shouted from across the Common Room, "You've been cooped up in the Common Room the whole year, it's about time that you got out and did something!"

James' momentary confusion vanished when Fred quickly elbowed Albus in the stomach and muttered something about cheating. Rose also noticed, and seemed rather amused when she asked "Wait, are you guys seriously taking bets on whether or not James can get me to stop studying?"

Everyone looked away, James shifted his feet guiltily, "Sorta." He said, flashing Rose a halfhearted grin.

* * *

In the end, Rose had agreed to stop studying long enough to have some fun that night, but only on the condition that she got a split of the pool. Rose Weasley was a lot of things, and conniving was definitely one of them. As a matter of fact, James would not have been all that surprised if his cousin had wound up in Slytherin: she was such a schemer when she wasn't studying all hours of the day.

The problem was figuring out what they were going to do, as James and Albus both wanted to come up with the idea, but neither of them actually had any good ideas that could be put into use.

"Alright, we're gonna go ransack Filch's Office, and that's the end of it!" James said, still harboring a strong grudge against the Caretaker from the time that he had given James detention for trying to sneak into Professor Slughorn's Office.

He hadn't even snuck in yet when the Caretaker found him, he was just wandering the Dungeons at the time! But the Caretaker had just assumed, admittedly correctly, that James was up to no good and had given him detention.

Albus however, had other ideas. "He's probably in there right now. Besides, he'll know it's us, don't ask me how he just will!" Albus seemed to credit the Caretaker with almost supernatural abilities of perception, it was rather pathetic actually.

"Come on James, let's go climb up on the roof! We've never done that before!" Albus insisted, he had been pleading with James to go up on the roof sometime for the last four weeks. He had always wanted to see what was up there, but was afraid to go on his own. James, however, was not too thrilled about the idea; even though he could scare Albus by making him think he would push him off.

"Look, I'm telling you Al there's nothing up there! Besides, how in Merlin's name would we even get up there?" he asked, shaking his head at his brother's foolishness.

"Brooms." Al pointed out simply, still clinging to the hope that they'd be on the roof that night, what was his insane obsession with going up there?

* * *

In the end, they'd done neither, and Rose had asked to see the kitchens, so seeing as they could not come to a decision themselves they had decided to just go along with what Rose wanted to do. After all, they snuck out just about every other night, but this was Rose's first time doing this … well, if not ever than certainly in a very long time.

It was drearily simple to get into the kitchens. James simply checked their course on the Marauder's Map, which Jeremey and Fred never ceased to quite literally salivate over, every so often to make sure that they weren't going to run into any teachers patrolling the hallways. Seeing as they weren't trying to do anything else, it was depressingly easy, but maybe it was better that way.

Getting caught would probably have deterred Rose from ever wanting to do something like this ever again. Besides, it was still amusing to James to see the other two boys praising the Map to high heavens.

"No joke," Jeremey said, staring at the Map with a look of intense longing "I would seriously _kill_ someone for that Map!"

James had chuckled uncomfortably and held the Map behind his back saying "OK Jer, just calm down …"

Jeremey seemed to find this amusing, saying casually, "Oh relax James, I wouldn't kill _you_¸ but some other people, well …" Jeremey laughed, though James was not sure if the boy was kidding or not.

* * *

They were on their way back to the Gryffindor Common Room after this rather disappointing adventure when they stumbled upon a pitch black corridor which James could not remember ever having been down before.

"What are you looking at James?" Fred asked, as James gazed down the corridor, which was so dark that they could not have possibly seen anything that was down it.

"I dunno," James said, peering at the Map, "The Map doesn't seem to think that there's a corridor here." That was odd, the Map had never displayed any faults like this before.

"Maybe this corridor isn't always here." Albus offered, "After all, I don't think that it could lead anywhere. Look." Indeed, on either side of this strange hallway, it seemed that the Castle ended where that wall was.

James nodded, admitting that it was the most probably reason. Still, he didn't like to admit that his brother had thought of something he hadn't, even though Albus was supposedly the 'smart' brother.

Peering down the corridor once again, James thought he saw a brief glimmer of light in the distance, but it had vanished so quickly that he was sure that he had imagined it. Just as he had resolved to take a step forward, he ran into something solid.

James let out a sharp gasp of breath as his face slammed into the hard stone wall that had definitely not been there just a few moments ago. What had appeared to James as a corridor just moments before, was now nothing more than cold unyielding stone. Groaning in pain, James mumbled "Ugh, I hate this Castle's trick walls!"

It was a shame, because he had really been expecting there to be something down that corridor, but it appeared that it really didn't exist after all. Still, it had looked so real before that wall had shot up, he had been so sure …

**Once again I have to apologize for taking so long. I'm really bad at keeping up with this aren't I? Sorry again for the wait, I make no promises this time, but hopefully the wait won't be too long. Thanks to everyone for reading, and don't forget to REVIEW!**


	19. Chapter 19: What Else is New?

Chapter Nineteen: What Else is New?

Albus had not been convinced that the so called 'false corridor' was really a false corridor at all, and had insisted that they go looking for it again to examine it more closely. And so even though Rose seemed to have no interest in going back, James agreed to try and find the place again.

Unfortunately, the two brothers seemed unable to find it, which just further convinced James that there had really been nothing there besides a wall pretending to be a corridor. Why had he even bothered listening to Albus in the first place?

Besides, James had much more important things to worry about; the final Quidditch Match before the Finals was just around the corner, and Gryffindor would be taking on Slytherin for a chance to make it to the Finals once again, and try and bring home the Cup this year, after last year's disappointing loss.

And of course it would have to come down to Gryffindor and Slytherin, it seemed as if no other outcome would be acceptable. It was like an unwritten law that whenever Gryffindor and Slytherin went head to head the Match would have to hold some kind of extreme importance.

The odds were heavily stacked against Gryffindor's aspirations to make a return trip to the Finals. Ravenclaw had already clinched their berth, so Gryffindor and Slytherin would be battling for the second spot. In order to secure that spot, Gryffindor would have to win, and they'd have to do it by at least 180 points! Even if they won the game, if it was by less than 180 points, Slytherin would go to the Finals against Ravenclaw.

As such, there was a lot of pressure on James to get Gryffindor ahead, and to do it quickly so that when Jeremey found the Snitch, he'd be able to catch it.

"We're all counting on you to get us some numbers out there!" Alex told him, "You're the fastest flier, you've got the best shot, so you're gonna need to get a couple of good ones quickly!"

James had merely stood there in dumb silence as Alex continued, "I mean, this is really the biggest game of the season, and if you screw up like you did against Ravenclaw then we really just don't have a chance."

James' mouth was open in mute outrage as Alex clapped him in the shoulder and concluded "I can see you agree, good man! I'll see you on the Pitch then James."

"Yea, thanks Alex!" James replied sarcastically, finding his voice at last, as the Captain walked away from him without another word, "I don't think I was feeling enough pressure already! Thanks for helping."

He knew that Alex meant well and all, but seriously, that guy had to be one of the worst motivational speakers in the history of Quidditch. Everything he said served either to make him even more nervous than he already was, or else want to club Alex with his broomstick. That was one of the reasons that James really missed Teddy. Even though the older boy hadn't spent as much time with James as he (James) would have liked, he had always known exactly what to say to get the Team going … even if he did it by pissing them off.

* * *

As it happened, the entire school was talking about little besides the upcoming Match. James could not escape it no matter where he went, and every time someone mentioned it to him he felt like he was going to be sick to his stomach.

Even his friends were no help, whether those on the team or off it, bringing up the upcoming Match at virtually every turn.

"Hey do you guys really think …" Andrew started one day at dinner, sounding dangerously like someone who was about to start asking whether James thought he was _really_ going to be able to beat Slytherin.

And that was another thing, why did they always ask whether he thought _he _could beat Slytherin, rather than whether _they _could beat Slytherin? It was as if they thought James was going to play every position by himself.

"I swear to god Andrew, if you say anything about the Match I'm going to tear your arm off!" James interrupted him. As he had just finished talking to Alex, he was not in the mood to hear anything even remotely related to Quidditch at the moment.

Andrew looked affronted, and a fair bit confused on that, when he continued "Um, actually I was going to ask whether we really had to mess up the telescopes in the Astronomy Tower _tonight_."

James looked at Andrew pointedly, they had been planning this for almost a week now, if Andrew had a problem with the plan why hadn't he said something earlier? "You're not wussing out on us are you?" James asked sharply, a sentiment that was matched by Jeremey who challenged Andrew moments later.

Rolling his eyes at the pair of them, Andrew replied "I want to go check on my sister alright? We can still do it another day can't we?" he said, almost pleading with him.

James shrugged, there really wasn't much difference in _when _they carried out this plan, but something about Andrew's words sounded rather off … what was it?

"What do you mean Andrew," Jeremey began loudly as James muddled over why Andrew's explanation had sounded off. "We see her every effing day in the Common Room! You said just the other day that you wished she'd leave us alone, eh." Jeremey added, sounding almost as though he wanted to confirm that they were all on the same page.

Oh yea, that was why it had sounded off. Andrew couldn't stand his little sister, which meant that as his friends neither could they, so why on earth would he want to cancel their brilliant plan to go see her?

"Aw, she's in the bleeding Hospital Wing again." Andrew said, rolling his eyes as though no one _ever_ had to go to the Hospital Wing. Rather ironic considering that Andrew himself had been there just two days ago because his potion's assignment had seared his face.

Of course, that _had _been because James had meddled with his potion while his back was turned. But still, it wasn't James' fault that Andrew hadn't ducked in time.

"What happened this time?" Zach asked, not noticing that Albus was slowly inching away from him, looking at Andrew as though he were a ticking bomb waiting to explode.

Andrew, however, wasn't having any of it. "Well," he said his voice barely contained from shouting, "_Someone_ thought that it would be a funny idea to jinx her when he didn't know what he was doing, and now she's having some serious memory issues. Last I heard of her, she couldn't even _speak_ yet!" he said, glaring at Albus expectantly.

Giving up on his effort to sneak away, Albus nervously exclaimed "It wasn't my fault! I was aiming for Jade Biondo! That cow was insulting Rose behind her back, what was I supposed to do!"

James neither knew nor cared who this 'Jade' person was, probably some kid in Albus' year, he was staring at his younger brother with a look of astonishment on his face.

"Let me get this straight," he said, struggling to contain a great emotion as his brother's defense subsided, "You completely screwed up Julie Knight's memory, because you were trying to jinx some random kid who said something about our cousin that was probably true in the first place?"

Albus didn't speak, he just looked down at his shoes and nodded slowly.

"Finally!" James exclaimed, hugging his brother in the crook of his elbow and rubbing the top of his head with his knuckles, "My little brother has finally learned something from me! I'm so proud!" he exclaimed, pretending to weep in pride as a bewildered Albus allowed himself a foolish grin.

Andrew was not amused, "Hey, dip-wad, you're missing the issue here! Your fail of a brother could have totally screwed up my sister's head!"

Jeremey laughed saying "Oh come on Andrew, her head's screwed up already! Whatever Albus did he couldn't have made it any worse."

James was about to chime in as well, but the sight of Andrew's face shoved the words back down his throat quicker than he could blink!

Fred, sadly, was not so quick on the uptake, going so far as to say "Well seeing as she's related to _Andrew_ I don't see how …" before he too caught a glimpse of the boy's expression.

Boy oh boy, if looks could kill …

* * *

It didn't take them all that long to get to the Hospital Wing, James had been there so many times that he could probably find his way there blindfolded; although whether or not that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen.

As it happened, either Julie was doing much better or Andrew was horribly over exaggerating, as the younger Knight seemed to be more or less perfectly fine. In fact, she was probably only still there because Madam Palumbo loved to fuss over people.

That, in fact, was how they had found her; sitting in the bed angrily muttering to herself with Madam Palumbo hovering over her.

"You're far too skinny!" the nurse was telling her, much to Julie's indignation, "You need to eat more or you're just going to keel over from starvation my dear."

James stifled a laugh, the last time he had been in the Hospital Wing, Madam Palumbo had told him that he too was horribly undernourished. She seemed to live under the impression that people needed to eat all the time in order to be happy. Then again, that probably explained why Zach liked her so much more than the rest of them.

Darren and Luke were already beside Julie's bed, but it seemed that Madam Palumbo had not given them any time to actually talk to her, as they were constantly looking up at the Hospital's clock in an insistently irritated fashion.

There was only one other patient in the Hospital Wing, a sandy haired Ravenclaw boy who looked to be around sixteen or so. He was in a bed on the far side of the Hospital Wing, either sleeping or (more likely) pretending to be asleep so that Madam Palumbo would not come over to him next.

At long last, James could no longer deal with having to listen to Madam Palumbo talk any longer, besides he needed to get his sleep before the Match the next morning and so, rude as it may have been, he interrupted Madam Palumbo's lecture and said.

"Erm, excuse me Madam Palumbo," he began, causing the Nurse to spin around in shock, wand raised. Clearly, she had not even noticed them enter and was now preparing to battle some heinous foe who, in her mind, would like nothing better than to interfere with the healing of her precious patients. The delusions of some people!

Once he was sure that she was not going to hex him, James continued "Um, we'd like to talk to Julie, and we have to be back in the Common Room soon so would you mind if …"

Darren and Luke nodded eagerly; they had probably been waiting there for a long time up until this point.

With a sigh, the nurse glanced up at the clock and said "Make it quick, she needs her rest this one does. It's a pity she can't remember the no good rascal who did it, or I'd have him thrown out of this school before he could hurt another innocent student!" It was with this exclamation that Madam Palumbo bustled off to the other side of the Hospital Wing, causing the Ravenclaw boy … who must have been faking all along … to groan in frustration.

While most everyone else looked relieved at the disappearance of the elderly matron, Albus looked visibly paler.

"Thanks mate." Darren said dully, "I thought that she was never going to shut up."

James nodded, turning his attention along with everyone else in the room to the girl sitting in the Hospital Bed. She looked well enough, in fact were it not for the fact that she was sitting on that bed James would not have thought that there was anything wrong with her.

"Hello Julie." Al said shyly, somehow managing to find his voice, and clearly still feeling guilty about the fact that it had been his wayward spell that had put the girl in this condition. Then again, perhaps he was afraid of what would happen if Julie told Madam Palumbo who had jinxed her.

However, Julie was clearly not in any mood to hear it, "Don't beat yourself up over nothing Al, I'm fine." She insisted, "I heard what that cow said about Rose! If you hadn't tried to jinx her then believe you me I would have!"

Glancing up towards the foot of the bed, she added "Speaking of which, where in Merlin's name is that girl?" clearly disappointed that her Dorm Mate had not seen it necessary to come and visit her. From the array of get-well cards on her bed stand, James could see that the other girls had been to see Julie, as well as a number of other names, some of which James did not recognize.

"Aw, she's still studying sis." Andrew explained, as James continued peering at the cards curiously. "What else does she ever do?" he added, finding it odd that his sister was really that surprised by Rose's absence. Though they had been hopeful that Rose's 'night of adventure' would have made her loosen up a little bit, she had quickly reverted back to her old ways of studying constantly. Honestly, the girl was possessed!

Julie's shoulders hunched in disappointment when Andrew explained that Rose was too busy studying to come visit her. "Yea, I guess so." She said sadly, though James couldn't see why. He and Al and Fred more than made up for the lack of their study - all - day - cousin.

As it turned out, Andrew was just exaggerating when he'd said that his sister couldn't even speak. Julie had suffered from some short term memory loss at first, but after that had subsided she had been totally fine; which relieved Albus' sense of guilt immensely.

They were there for maybe half an hour before they were finally thrown out unceremoniously by Madam Palumbo. Before they left however, Julie had one last thing to say.

"Hey guys." She said quietly, so quietly that James only barely heard her. "Make sure you kick the stuffing out of Slytherin tomorrow!"

* * *

The wind whipped through James' already untidy hair as he sped down the length of the Pitch, the Quaffle tucked underneath his arm. Ignoring the whizzing Bludgers that sped just inches past him, James tossed the Quaffle to Mitchel Gate who held onto it for barely half a second before sending it back across to James. With the Keeper still scrambling to get back from covering Mitchel, James flung the Quaffle home for an easy goal.

80-60 Gryffindor, but still they needed to do better. They needed a 30 point margin before catching the Snitch if they wanted to advance to the Finals, but thus far they had not held a 30 point margin of victory for even a moment.

Jeremey, for his part, was doing a good job at keeping Slytherin's Seeker (Remington Parker) distracted from the hunt for the Snitch. Even if Jeremey had found the Snitch he would not have been able to do anything with it as Gryffindor did not have the needed margin of victory, so instead Jeremey had spent the entirety of the Match flying as close to Parker as he possibly could, jabbering his mouth off.

Of course, James had only been able to pick up snatches of what Jeremey was saying to his Slytherin counterpart, but from what he heard it was no surprise that Remington had not been able to devote much attention to searching for the Snitch.

James grabbed the Quaffle again after Nicholas Hayden made a great save on Slytherin's Richard Gomez, speeding down the Pitch, high above everyone else. This was the part of Quidditch that he loved, the thrill of feeling the wind whistling past him as he zoomed at impossible speeds at high altitude. Still eighty feet above the hoops, James pelted the Quaffle downwards and through the Center Hoop: 90-60 Gryffindor!

The second that the Quaffle passed through the goal hoop, Jeremey took off. He could have been following the Snitch for the last five minutes, waiting for the opportunity to strike. Then again, maybe he had just gotten lucky and spotted it right as James was scoring.

But however it had happened, it didn't matter. They were ahead by 30 points, if Jeremey caught the Snitch now they would make it to the Finals! Remington was behind him, slowly losing ground as Jeremey advanced on the Snitch. Then, Jeremey's hand closed around the glittering golden ball.

At that exact moment, mayhem broke loose. James' ears were simultaneously filled with the sounds from a million different coinciding events.

"Anthony Pierce scores for Slytherin! Gryffindor leads 70-90! And Jeremey Hall has the Snitch! …"

…

…...

…..

…..

…..

…

…

"… Oh dear …"

James knew what Brian Portis, the Hufflepuff Boy who was calling the game, was talking about. It didn't seem like anyone on the Pitch knew whether Slytherin had scored before or after Jeremey had caught the Snitch.

"Shut it you punk!" James heard a slamming sound behind him, and turned in time to see Remington and Jeremey shoving each other off of their brooms, which were still about twenty feet in the air.

The two were still grappling with each other as they fell to the ground, separating only when they struck the ground with a resounding pair of crunches. As the two flew apart, the sounds of their fight were replaced by their groans of pain as they tried to get up. However, James noticed from his high up vantage point that both were making sure to kick the other repeatedly as they tried to prop themselves up.

On the side of the Pitch, Professor McGonagall was conversing furiously with Professor Slughorn and Coach Dunn, the Quidditch Instructor and Referee. It seemed that all three of them had different opinions on what had happened.

James slowly made his way to the ground, hopping off his broom a foot away from Jeremey, who had been smart enough to roll a few yards away from his Slytherin counterpart before trying to get up again.

"Hey Jamsie?" Jeremey mumbled, sounding half delirious from either pain or jubilation, "Did we win?" he asked, still clutching the fluttering golden ball tightly to his chest like it was his first born child.

"I don't know Jer." James said, watching as Alex flew over to join the ongoing debate on the sidelines. Fortunately for them, the Slytherin Captain was otherwise occupied trying to stumble to his feet yards away from James' feet. However, after that nasty fall this was proving to be rather difficult.

Alex had since been thrown out of the discussion, and the teachers were continuing to debate amongst themselves. Nicholas looked like he was going to be sick; if he had just made that stop then this whole thing would not have been necessary.

James helped Jeremey to his feet, as the boy did not seem to be able to accomplish the feat on his own, and the two were now laughing at the Slytherin Captain who was still on his stomach in the grass.

"Look at the big bad Slytherin." James jeered childishly, "He's so tough he can't even get up after a little fall."

"Stuff it!" Remington barked, swinging his arm at the boy's legs, knocking them off their feet.

Shaking the stars out of his eyes, James glared at Remington and said "You're going to die Parker!" drawing his wand out of his robes and preparing to jinx the older boy.

He wouldn't get the chance to get out even a single syllable, as his wand flew from his hand almost the second that he had drawn it.

James looked around for the offending Slytherin, ready to tear their head off with his bare hands, but it was not a Slytherin who had cast the spell.

It was Alex who had disarmed him, glaring at him pointedly not to do anything stupid that would jeopardize Gryffindor's chances of getting a favorable outcome.

Walking away from the other two teachers, Professor McGonagall announced to the students gathered around the Pitch, "We have come to a decision. After careful deliberation, we have decided …"

**Told you I'd be faster with this one, haha. Let's hope this becomes the rule not the exception!**

**Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to REVIEW!  
**


	20. Chapter 20: Consequences

Chapter Twenty: Consequences

It's incredible how just a few seconds could stretch onwards and onwards until it seemed like you had been standing there waiting for an eternity. The entire Quidditch Pitch had fallen silent in anticipation of the decision that would determine the outcome of the Match.

Even James could not think of anything to say, no witty observation sprang to mind, no humorous comment to break the tension of the moment. All the Players had reached the ground by now, gathered around Professor McGonagall with breathless anticipation, leaning forward on their broomsticks, waiting … hoping … praying.

Surely Jeremey had captured the Snitch before the goal had been scored, he had to have, for this drive to the Finals was surely Gryffindor's destiny! This higher calling could not be halted, could not be undone by a mere technicality, could it? It would be criminal, and morally sickening, to allow such a travesty to take place! Not now, not after everything that they had done to get themselves into this position!

Professor McGonagall placed the tip of her wand on her throat, and when she spoke her voice filled the entire Quidditch Pitch, a feat that she probably could have managed without the use of the spell. Not a single student was daring to make the slightest of noise, the fate of two Houses' dreams rested in the next words that Professor McGonagall.

It was almost amusing, as this was probably the first time that anyone had actually paid this much attention to a teacher in years.

"We have determined," began Professor McGonagall, speaking in a cool and measured tone, causing James' blood to freeze in his veins. The next thing that she said would decide the fate of the entire Gryffindor season. Everything that they had worked and trained for would come down to this moment.

"The Quaffle had passed through the hoops _before_ the Snitch was captured. Gryffindor wins by a score of 240-90!" Professor McGonagall announced, causing a euphoric exclamation from the Slytherin supporters.

"No!"

The words escaped James' lips before he could even stop them. It was impossible, it just couldn't be! They had won the game, they had played so hard for so long, but still they were being eliminated over a last-minute technicality! It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! They had won the game, but it did not matter! Slytherin was going to the Finals, and Gryffindor was out because of a last second fluke of timing. Even those supporters of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff who had been supporting Slytherin, and there were a fair few of them, could do nothing but stare in stupefied silence.

The Slytherin supporters, however, were showing no such restraint. It did not matter to them that their team had lost the game, they had 'won' what mattered: a chance to battle the Ravenclaws for the Quidditch Cup! And Gryffindor, for all of their youth and hype and dominance in the last few matches were not.

James swore violently, throwing his prized Nimbus 3,000 broomstick to the ground in disgust; an act of blasphemy that he would ordinarily sooner have died than commit. There was no way that they could have come so close only to have it all stolen away from them at the last second!

James collapsed down to one knee, his legs no longer able to support his weight as his body rebelled against the impossibility of what he was seeing. As he stared down at the ground he saw Alex indignantly protesting to Professor McGonagall that they had been cheated. He was not alone either: half the Gryffindor Squad was yelling their disapproval, and even Coach Dunn, who was known to be a stern hater of Slytherin House, but Professor McGonagall was not having any of their complaints.

"My decision is final!" Professor McGonagall announced sternly, though James suspected that there might have been a twinge of sadness in her voice "I am not going to change it, so I suggest you save your breath!" She announced, menacingly bearing down on the group of Players standing in front of her, all of whom immediately fell silent in the face of her wrath.

James looked away, certain that there was no way this could have possibly ended any worse. At least if they had lost the game, then maybe he would be able to live with the fact that they had missed their chance at the Finals. But the fact that they had won, and still were going to miss out, just made it impossible for James to accept.

But just when James thought that things could not possible get any worse, the universe proved him wrong in an instant.

"As if any of us didn't know from the very beginning who was going to win this Match!" came a sneering voice from behind him, causing his face to contort in rage. He didn't need to turn around in order to know who it was that was talking to him; there was only one person in all of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who could possibly be that much of a jerk.

"Can it Parker!" James growled, still facing away from the boy whom he would like nothing more at the moment than to brutally beat to death with his broomstick. Was that against the rules? Probably was, but was it one of those 'you'll get detention' rules, or was it a 'you're going to Azkaban' kind of rule.

Unfortunately, James was pretty sure that it was the latter; beating people to death with a chunk of wood was definitely something that would be frowned upon by society. More's the pity too, it would have been oddly satisfying after losing to Remington to beat him relentlessly with his broomstick … or with anything big and heavy for that matter.

It was for that reason that James refused to face the Slytherin boy, for he was certain that he would be unable to resist the urge to beat the older student into a pulp if he did. More accurately, he didn't think he'd be able to resist the urge to _try_ and beat Parker to a pulp, because the fact of the matter was that he wouldn't have been able to inflict very much damage.

"Oh, a little bit of a sore loser are we Potter?" Remington sneered, they had never referred to each other on a last name basis before, and now that they had reached that level of hatred, James was disgusted by how similar their names sounded. Ugh, maybe he should just call him by 'Remington' because that thankfully was not even remotely close to James.

"Shut it Remington!" James said, not wanting to have to repeat the discomfort of hearing their last names repeated in such close sequence to one another again. Ugh, he felt as though he was … unclean or something, as though he needed to go shower now.

Well, as it happened, he did need to shower because he had just played a Quidditch Game, and positively reeked of sweat. But that was not what he meant, he felt … morally unclean in addition to physically dirty, but now he was getting off on a mental tangent.

"Oh, struck a nerve have I?" Remington asked, pacing around James gloatingly, taking great pleasure in striding in circles around him. "Precious, popular, perfect Potter can't stand to be bested by anyone can he?" he continued, apparently taking great pleasure in this "No, you think that you're just so bloody perfect don't you?"

Before James could answer, a blur of scarlet raced across his path and Remington recoiled and crumpled to the floor, his nose bloodied and broken.

James turned slowly to his left, where he saw Jeremey slamming his fist into Parker's face as he shouted "No one, talks to _my _friend like that … and gets away with it!" His face was contorted in a rage the likes of which James had never seen on the face of his friend, who was usually very in control of his anger, if not of his other emotions.

Jeremey did not seem to have any intentions of stopping any time soon, so James grabbed a hold of his friend's free arm and began dragging him off of Remington Parker, Jeremey fighting and swinging his fists the whole way up.

"What did you just do?" James breathed, looking from the bleeding Slytherin boy, to Professor McGonagall's expression of shock, back to his fuming friend. "We're gonna get killed!" he hissed.

Jeremey however, remained where he was standing, staring down at Remington like he was a foul loathsome creature … like a cockroach. "Nobody insults _my_ friends!" Jeremey hissed again.

James was going to tell his friend that he was being a bloody fool, and that the boatload of Detentions that they were going to get would not be worth the brief satisfaction that they had gotten from seeing Remington get what he deserved.

However, just as he was about to say those things, there was a flash of emerald as Remington leapt to his feet and swung his fist into Jeremey's gut.

* * *

Unfortunately, Jeremey was not very strong, and while Parker's face was streaming blood, Jeremey had not been able to do enough damage to stop the Slytherin boy from exacting a furious vengeance on the pair of Gryffindors before him.

As soon as they saw Jeremey punch Remington in the face, the Players of both teams had leapt forward and ran towards the three ready to beat the crud out of those involved on the opposite team. Unsurprisingly though, they would not reach the trio, as midway there the two Teams came together and dissolved into clashed with each other.

Students in the stands who had began walking back towards the Castle paused where they stood, turning their attention back towards the Pitch where what had once been a game of Quidditch had turned into a muggle street fight.

"Jer, behind you!" James shouted as Dominick Carrington broke away from the pack and came running at Jeremey with his Beater's bat raised in the air. As James was preparing to rush towards the Sixth Year boy, Remington Parker grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him at the ground.

James' vision spun as he slammed into the ground, he saw the Slytherin boy raising his foot over him when Zach dove forward and tackled Remington aside.

That was as far as the fight would get, as a furious voice roared over the shouts at that very moment.

"Stop this instant! Immobulus!" shouted Coach Dunn, who had a reputation for having a fiery temper when he was crossed.

All of the players froze in place, except for Lena Roberts who had the great misfortune of having been in midair at the time that Coach Dunn's enchantment took hold over them; causing her immobile form to soar through the air in a lazy arc and crash to the ground. If he could have moved, James would have winced; that had to have hurt.

* * *

Professor McGonagall had vacated the Pitch, getting all of the observing students to return to the Castle, abuzz with stories and rumors of the fight that had just occurred: though how in Merlin's name false rumors could possibly start up that quickly was a mystery to James.

It was only after they had waited through the long agonizing process of Professor McGonagall emptying out the Quidditch Pitch that the fuming Headmistress got around to dealing with them. It once again seemed as though time had slowed down to a crawl, but this time there was no hope of anything better coming out of it. This time the only possibility that awaited them was one of retribution and punishment for what had just occurred. And that scared James more than the outcome of any old Quidditch Game.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Professor McGonagall snapped, staring at the students who could not have answered even if they wanted to, because they were all still immobilized.

Shaking her head in disgust she continued "I don't even want to know! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!" She was now pacing along the rows of fourteen frozen students, all in various stages of trying to tear each other's limbs off, taking a moment to stare at each and every one of them with an expression of horror and outrage.

"I have half a mind to ban all of you from any future Quidditch Matches, but I'm not going to do that!" she said in a shrill voice that none of them had ever heard her use before. As his eyes darted around the Pitch, James was certain that he was not the only one who had noticed this. Everyone was looking at Professor McGonagall as though she had said something to the effect of declaring a war against all Witches and Wizards in the nation of Norway.

It almost seemed to James that she was trying to prove something to herself … that she was not going to cross some line. But whatever it was, James could not figure out, was there some reason that she was holding back? But no, Professor McGonagall never held back with punishments.

"You will all serve Detention every Saturday until the end of Term!" she declared, "Both Gryffindor and Slytherin will lose one hundred points, and …" she paused, and James knew what was going to come next, but he still prayed that he was wrong.

"I shall be contacting all of your parents." She concluded.

Yup, there it was, the coup de grace. He was dead now, boy oh boy was he ever dead now! His parents were going to absolutely murder him when they found out! No joke, they were going to Floo up to Hogwarts so that they would personally kill him. Weren't his parents always talking about sportsmanship and how he wasn't supposed to do … well, exactly this?

From the semblances of expression that the faces of the other students were capable of showing in their immobilized states, mainly the younger ones, James could tell that he was not the only one who felt like that last comment was the worst one of the lot. Of course, the older students looked as though they couldn't care less about that part, but the younger students were petrified! Especially Zach, who was looking paler than Nearly Headless Nick did when a member of the Headless Hunt entered the room.

"Now," she said, her voice barely contained from a scream, "I am going to lift the enchantment on you, but if even a single one of you reacts in violence to one another in any way then I will see you expelled, _do you understand?_"

A moment of tense silence passed which, given the circumstances, was as close to an answer as Professor McGonagall could have hoped for. It was almost regretfully though, that she finally waved her wand over them and lifted the immobilizing charm that had been placed over them.

James, who had been standing in a compromising position at the time, immediately lost his balance and toppled to the ground, nor was he the only one. In fact, more than half of the students were now seated on the ground in some fashion or another. But no one had lashed out in violence; Professor McGonagall knew how to command respect and obedience.

Apparently satisfied, Professor McGonagall spun on her heel and strode off of the Pitch, leaving the students sitting there, with Coach Dunn and Professor Slughorn looking down them disdainfully.

* * *

No one spoke in the locker room after the game, everyone was too busy silently fuming about what had happened. As if it wasn't bad enough that Gryffindor was now out of the running, they had all been given a cartload of Detentions, and had gotten the snot kicked out of them by a bunch of Slytherins.

The only upside to the whole situation was that they had perhaps managed to inflict an equal number of blows on the Slytherin Team, but still considering that Slytherin would be playing for the House Cup and they would not, it seemed like a hollow concession at best.

"You just never learn do you mate?" Andrew asked James disapprovingly when he trudged into the Dormitory that night. Andrew was referring, of course, to the unfortunate incident that had taken place the year before in the Great Hall after Gryffindor had lost the Quidditch Cup to Hufflepuff.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" James protested, "Jeremey started the whole thing when he took a swing at Remington!" Perhaps heaping the blame on his friends was not the best thing to do at the moment, but James was sick of always getting blamed for things like this. Just because _a lot_ of them were because of him did not mean that they were _all_ because of him!

"Yea, well you were the one who started talking to that giant buffoon!" Jeremey protested, "What was I to do James? Leave you to get picked apart by that guy? You weren't even defending yourself you're such a wimp!"

Zach and Andrew both began drawing backwards slowly, here it was again. Where was the nearest exit?

"Are you kidding me?" James exclaimed, "I'm the wimp? You're the one who cried for two hours after we lost to Hufflepuff last year!" Ok, perhaps that was a low blow, but James didn't feel like hearing any of it from his friend right now.

"Oh come off it, James." Jeremey growled, "It was like five minutes, and if I remember correctly, _you _cried too."

"Did not!" James said, acting like the immature kid that he was.

Then proceeded to follow a rather childish display of 'did not' 'did too' 'did not' 'did too' that would have continued uninterrupted for some time were it not for Zach's interruption.

"Oi! Will you two just can it already! My god!" Zach exclaimed, glaring at the two of them in disgust. "This is why you two always end up in these kinds of situations! It's because you don't know when to just leave well enough alone."

James glared at Zach, wanting to say that he didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but then again, Zach made a pretty good point. Maybe a lot of those problems were caused by his unwillingness to walk away from a confrontation. But wasn't that just like running away? And running away from a fight made you a coward!

"Stuff it Zach, you were fighting too!" James said finally, not the best comeback as far as comebacks went, but then you couldn't win them all.

**Thanks to everyone reading, sorry for the long wait this time, don't forget to REVIEW! :)**


	21. Chapter 21: Drearily Trudging Along

Chapter Twenty-One: Drearily Trudging Along

At first, James had not realized at first just how many Saturdays there were left in the Term, but once Zach had shown him a calendar he had paled at the realization that he still had two and a half months worth of weekly Detentions to serve! James had been expecting maybe four or five, but in fact they would have to serve over a dozen Detentions before Term ended! That was just torturous!

Of course, the worst of his punishment would come once his parents had found out what had happened. In a sick sense, he almost envied Jeremey, who had been unlucky enough to have received a Howler from his parents the very next day! Sure there had been the public embarrassment and shameful head hanging that came with an explosive scolding in the Great Hall, but at least it had been over quickly.

He especially envied Zach, whose parents had vented their anger with him in a simple letter, nice and private without any attention or fanfare. But no, James Potter's parents reserved a very special punishment for him.

That being said, it was rather hard to feel bad for James while he was joining in the thunderous laughter that rained down on Jeremey as the Canadian boy to hid his head beneath the table and insisted that he was leaving Hogwarts for good. As if it wasn't bad enough that James was laughing at his friend's misfortune, the fact that he was in the very same predicament made his actions even more curious.

However, this thought would not occur to James until a voice as cold as death itself from behind him muttered "Mr Potter," in an icy whisper. James turned around to see Professor Ambrose, a teacher he had only spoken to twice in his entire time at Hogwarts, and whom he could not remember ever having a particularly interesting conversation with. But then, having an interesting conversation with the leering Divination's Professor was not something that many students could claim to do.

Professor Ambrose was a man so cold and frightening that even James hardly dared do anything but show him some level of respect and deference. You didn't mess with Professor Ambrose unless you wanted trouble, and in all honesty James was in enough trouble as it was.

Of course, no matter how stupid it might have been to open his mouth, James had never been one to pass on an opportunity to leave his personal stamp on things. And besides, it wasn't like things could possibly get any worse could they?

"No, he's over at the Hufflepuff Table right now." James replied lazily, "But I can take a message for him if you want." Remarking sarcastically to Professor Ambrose was something that was sure to end poorly, but James knew that he needed to score points while he could, before the Howler he was certain was headed his way got here.

"Well then," Professor Ambrose muttered coolly, "I suppose that we shall have to deduct five points from Gryffindor for his not being at the correct table. But when you _do_ see him, be sure to tell him that his parents are waiting for him in the Headmistress' Office."

Even James could not think of anything to say at this, freezing completely where he sat as his face grew pale in shock. Crap! His parents had come all the way up to Hogwarts in order to see him? This was even worse than a Howler, even worse than Detention, he was dead! Deader than dead actually, he was going to be killed, and then resurrected from the dead so that he could be killed again! His parents must be absolutely _furious_, why else would they have bothered to come all of the way up to Hogwarts.

Albus was choking on his toast, "Both of them?" he sputtered, clearly delighted at the prospect of his brother finally getting laid into by their parents for one of his misdeeds.

Professor Ambrose seemed humored by Albus' enthusiasm, "Both of them." He replied, in as friendly and cheerful a voice as James had ever heard from the usually frosty Divination Teacher. Seemingly satisfied, the man strode away from the Gryffindor Table towards the front of the Great Hall.

Burying his head in his hands, James muttered "I am dead! I am so dead!" Jeremey had looked up from underneath the table, joining Albus in his reveling over James' predicament. Misery did love company James supposed, and Jeremey had just been humiliated in front of the entire School. Still, a good number of the Slytherin players had received letters of similar nature from their parents, so at least the Gryffindors were not alone in their misery. They had probably set some sort of record that morning for the most Howlers received in one day.

"If I'm not in class today, it's because my parents murdered me." James said gloomily as he got up and prepared to leave, "Don't mourn me for too long guys. Jeremey you get the Map, Andrew you get my broom, Zach you get everything else … just keep my stuff away from Albus." He said, only half joking as he gloomily bequeathed his most prized possessions.

"Aw come on James, there's no need to be getting our hopes up." Jeremey joked, "Now I'm gonna be all upset when you come back alive."

* * *

Just like time seemed to slow down to a crawl at some times, it also had an irritating habit of speeding up uncontrollably when you wished that it would slow down so that you wouldn't have to deal with some unpleasant future event. Now was one of those times, as James' trip down to the Headmistress' Office seemed to take less than a microsecond.

"Remus" James said, his voice quivering, when he came to face the stone gargoyle that was the entryway to the Headmistress' Office. During James' time at Hogwarts, the password had always been the name of some fallen hero of the Second Wizarding War, at least as far as he knew. At the time, as he had found out two days before when he had been called down with the other Quidditch Players to be informed of the details of his Detentions, the password was in honor of the father of his foster brother Teddy Lupin.

As James pushed open the door at the top of the spiral staircase, he was still hoping that somehow this was some kind of sick joke. Maybe his parents had only passed on some kind of message to Professor McGonagall or something. Unfortunately, James was not that lucky, as his heart sank into the soles of his shoes at the sight of his parents standing in front of the Headmistress' Desk with their backs to him.

"Ah James, you're …" Professor McGonagall began with a forced smile, clearly ill at ease with the presence of her two furious former students standing before her.

However, Professor McGonagall's attempt to keep things calm and cordial were not going to work, as she hadn't even time to finish her sentence before she was interrupted by a furious Ginny Potter.

"James! What in Merlin's name did you think that you were doing?" his mother screeched, her face having turned a rage filled red to match her hair. James had seen that face before, it was her 'Don't mess with me right now I'm really angry' face. Whenever she had that expression, James knew that it was best to get as far away as possible, but at the moment there was nowhere that he could run to.

"I, well, I don't know mum." James said, knowing better than to be sarcastic around his mother. He could be cheeky to his teachers, but when his mum got like that you didn't mess around.

"You don't know?" she shouted, "You don't know! You never think about anything do you James? Do you know what we had to go through in order to get all the way up here?"

"Well you shouldn't have bothered to then should you?" James asked bitterly, knowing that he was going to regret it. But seriously, it wasn't like he had murdered anyone, all he had done was gotten into a little fight! Surely his parents had been in plenty of those during their time at Hogwarts.

"Don't you dare use that tone with your mother!" his father snapped, causing James to cringe away from his parents. God, why did he have to have the craziest parents in the entire world? He couldn't even pit them against each other because they never fought about _anything_! It was disgusting, they agreed about absolutely _everything_!

OK, maybe not _everything_¸ but still you'd think that James would be able to find something to divide them on. But right now he probably wasn't even going to be able to go the 'Quidditch is our thing' route with his dad.

"Why James?" his mother asked, "Why do you insist on doing whatever stupid thing happens to pop into your head at the time? Do you ever even _think _about the consequences of your actions?"

James stared back at her blankly, not bothering to even start thinking of an excuse for his actions. What would be the point? No matter what he said, his parents were not going to care. His explanations never meant anything; his parents always knew the 'real' answers to the questions that they were asking of him. Whatever he said to them in reply, as far as they were concerned, was just an excuse or a lie.

"This is why we didn't want you to start playing Quidditch in your first year or two." His mother said, shaking her head as though she believed that if she had been more adamant in her stance that none of this would have ever happened. "I knew that you were just going to get way too caught up in it! How could you not, our whole bloody family, myself included, are all a bunch of Quidditch obsessed fools! But I was hoping that you would be different from the rest of us."

James still did not speak, he knew better than to try and explain himself when his mother was in the middle of one of her rants. Interrupting her would only make the situation worse for himself: as if it weren't bad enough already.

Professor McGonagall was staring at them from behind her desk, if James had not known any better he would have been sure that she actually pitied him. In fact, she _did_ pity him! A _Professor_ was actually feeling bad for James Sirius Potter; wow, James never would have seen that one coming!

But at the same time, she looked as though she was afraid to get in the middle of the family. Then again, who could really blame her? His father was _the_ Harry Potter, who defeated the most powerful dangerous Dark Wizard of all time; and his mother was known for being an exceptional caster of the Bat Bogey Hex herself. It was scary how much dangerous spell casting ability was bearing down on him right now.

"I'm sorry mum, what more can I say?" James asked timidly, wishing that he could just melt into the floor and disappear. He could face down the Magical History Movement, and he had mouthed off to every teacher in the school at one point or another, but his parents still inspired fear and terror in him when they got like that.

Of course, when you considered who he had for parents, could you really blame him?

"It wouldn't be anything that you haven't said to us before now would it James?" his mother asked angrily, "Merlin, you're just always getting yourself into these sorts of messes, and you always say that you're not going to do it ever again, but you do anyway! It's all just a game to you isn't it?"

It was amazing how long Ginny Potter could go on once she had built up a head full of steam, and boy oh boy was she in a the mood to drag on today. She went on and on, repeatedly reminding James that his actions had cast an extremely negative light on herself, and his father, as parents; not to mention that he was endangering his schooling and his future.

When finally his mother was done, it was his father's turn to say his piece. Whatever his father had to say to him, he knew that it was the real meaning behind their visit. His parents had not travelled all the way to Hogwarts, simply for his mother to yell at him; they could have done that with a Howler.

No, whatever his father was about to say to him, it was going to be short and to the point; and would explain the real reason that his parents had came to Hogwarts. His father had always been the one who had known how to deal with things like this.

"James, what your mother and I are trying to say is that we thought that we raised you better than this. I mean, fighting over something as insignificant as a Quidditch Game. James, didn't we teach you about a little thing called sportsmanship?" his father said, looking at James with that intense stare of disappointment.

"But dad, I …" James began, but his father cut him off almost immediately.

"I don't want to hear it James!" his father said calmly, maddeningly calm after the shouting of James' mother. Couldn't he just yell and scream so that James could ignore him and hate him, rather than just making him quiver under the stare of his disappointment. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses. You're going to learn your lesson one way or another!"

Uh oh, James did not like where this was going. This was definitely not going to end well.

"You're not going to play another game of Quidditch until your mother and I see that you've learned what sportsmanship is all about." His father said, turning away from James as though he could not bear to see his son's expression when he said "And we're taking your Nimbus 3,000 with us."

"What?" James shouted, showing for the first time that he was actually paying attention to what was being said. "Are you bloody mad?" he could not believe that his parents were being like this. They had never done anything like this before, why on earth were they doing something so cruel to him?

"You can have it back," his father said with perhaps a hint of regret at what he was doing, "when you've proven that you understand the meaning of sportsmanship, and how to keep a level head on your shoulders."

* * *

James had spent the rest of the day in a foul mood, and he had continued in such a state for the remainder of the week. True to their word, their parents had taken his precious broomstick away when they had left the Castle, but James had not been left with even the slightest idea of how he was supposed to prove that he had … done whatever it was his parents had told him to do … if they had not even told him what they wanted him to do?

Albus, for once, was actually on James' side in this regard. "That's just cruel." He had said when James had told everyone what had happened, skirting over a few details of course, in the Common Room that night.

"Yea, Albus is right." Jeremey said, looking both disgusted and aghast, "You don't take away a boy's broomstick! No matter what he does! It's like taking away …" Jeremey trailed off, either unable to think of a proper analogy, or unwilling to voice the one that he had just thought of.

"Geez, and I thought that my parents were bad." Zach said, "All they did was send me an angry letter telling me how ashamed of me they were."

No one really commented, it was common knowledge in Gryffindor House that Zachary Tolentino's parents really didn't give two hoots about him. What made it even worse was that Zach didn't even seem to care whether or not his parents showed him any attention. He just went along with it as though that was how all children were treated by their parents, never questioning it.

"I think you got what you deserved James." Came a voice from behind them, a voice that James recognized immediately. It was his once fun, now boring bookworm of a cousin Rose.

"Of course you _would_ think that wouldn't you Rose?" James snapped, not in the mood to listen to his cousin lecturing him about how repulsive his actions had been. The subject had already been covered pretty well by his parents, and he didn't need Rose to try and find any possible reprimands that his parents had possibly skirted over in their verbal lashing of him.

Rose just laughed, sounding more like the old Rose than James could remember her being all year. "Have fun in Detention Jamie-pooh." She spat, returning to her book with a satisfied glint in her eyes.

**Sorry about the long wait guys. Makes it worse that there's not too much going on in this chapter either, eh? Please don't kill me, I'm trying to pick up the rate of posting for you guys!**

**Thanks for reading guys, don't forget to REVIEW! :)  
**


	22. Chapter 22: The Sacrifice

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Sacrifice

James was not someone who was unaccustomed to Detentions, but even by his standards the never ending series of Detentions that came as a result of the fight on the Quidditch Pitch were more than he could possibly bear. Saturdays were _his_ day! They were his day to spend with his friends! And now he was wasting every Saturday night from 7:30 pm on in pointless Detentions.

On the positive side, at least some of them were spent in the company of one or more of his fellow Gryffindors, but even when they did serve their Detentions together their chances to talk were few and far between. Maybe if their Detentions had at least been doing something more interesting they would have been more tolerable, but so far all he had done was help the School's librarian restock the bookshelves.

By his own account, Jeremey and Zach had spent most of their Detentions sorting through old disciplinary records, which contained quite a number of references to James' family.

"Your family has done so much messed up stuff!" Jeremey exclaimed one night when they had all returned from their respective Detentions. "I think that the biggest files in there are your grandfather, you know the one that you're named after,"

"Why thank you Jeremey," James interrupted sarcastically at this unnecessary explanation, "I wasn't sure which one you were talking about."

Jeremey ignored this as he continued "and those two Uncles of yours. … Well," the boy admitted a moment later "After that Sirius Black guy."

James, only half sarcastically, twirled one finger in the air and mumbled "Well, glad to know that I've got respectable namesakes at least." James was confident that at the rate he was going, he would need his own filing cabinet by the time his Third Year was over, though he wasn't quite sure whether or not this was something to be proud of.

If only James had been able to spend his Detentions looking through those old records as well then maybe they would have been somewhat easier to take. After all, reading about the various high jinks of his relatives would have made for a good time. Plus, he probably could have gotten a few good ideas from those slips.

But after the first three weeks, James had still not done anything besides reorganize the library books. And he had been spending more time in the library than he had been in the rest of his time at Hogwarts combined. And there was nothing even remotely interesting about helping the librarian fuss over whether A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration should go under 'school books' or 'Transfiguration aids'

"You guys are lucky!" James groaned, "At least you guys get to have a good laugh while you're reading through those cards."

Jeremey and Zach however, strongly disagreed with James' insistences that they were 'lucky' in any way shape or form. "Not really," Zach said, "Most of them are really stupid. I think I've read 'disrupting the learning environment' at least nine _million_ times!"

Much to the dismay of the Gryffindors, the Slytherin Quidditch Team was not going to be prevented from taking part in the Finals against Ravenclaw, and so the Gryffindor Team was ferociously supporting the Ravenclaw Team. In fact, everyone who was not in Slytherin House was going to be supporting Ravenclaw, as Hufflepuff was, as usual, supporting their fellow underdog.

James had spoken to Jason the day before the Match, and had been sure to give the Ravenclaw Beater a few choice pieces of advice. Advice which, generally speaking, was probably not going to be all that helpful in this situation, but still seemed like the right thing for James to say.

"Make sure that you knock out Remington Parker as fast as you can! He's a threat so long as he's in the air!" James said, which judging by the fact that Jason lived and died by the rule 'take out the Seeker' was probably not going to help him figure out anything that he had not already.

Jason, for his part, nodded with a bemused smirk on his face at James' words before replying "And you're sure that there's not any other reason that you're suggesting this?" Much to James' dismay, Jason had always been much too perceptive for his own good … not that it would have been very hard to figure out in any event.

"Other reasons? Jason, I'm sure that I have no idea what you're talking about." James replied quickly, glancing away from his friend as he said so. "I am only looking out for the best interests of you guys. After all, we all want a Ravenclaw victory, don't we?"

"And if Remington Parker spends in the next month in the Hospital Wing as a result of the Match?" Jason asked with that stupid 'I'm smarter than you' smirk still etched on his face.

"Hey, Quidditch is a dangerous game!" James said, defending himself with a shrug.

* * *

The Gryffindor portion of the crowd had gone to the stands, to nobody's surprise, decked out entirely in blue. In fact, three quarters of the stands were nothing but an endless sea of blue that surrounded the island of green clad Slytherin supporters at the far ends of the stands.

"Let's go Ravenclaw!" James shouted as the players from both sides took to the Pitch, chanting more for the downfall of Slytherin than for the victory of Ravenclaw. A fact that was not lost on the surrounding Gryffindors, who proceeded to chant in loud voices "Slytherin Sucks … Ravenclaw's -"

Well, let's just say the Hogwarts students were not known for having the most polite of chants; and this would not have made the list of their kindest ones.

"Beautiful day for a Match ain't it?" Albus asked cheerily, staring around the Pitch with intense interest. This was the first Quidditch Final that Albus had seen, and though the memory of the Quidditch World Cup from the year before was probably still fresh in his head there was something entirely different about the close intimate feeling of a Hogwarts Match.

"That it is little bro." James said, studying both teams intently. From his own experience, Ravenclaw was by far the better team than Slytherin, but Slytherin had developed a fierce reputation as one of the most ferocious and tough squads that the school had seen in years. And a squad with that kind of reputation was going to win more than a few games solely on intimidation.

The Match started, and James expertly followed the flow of play back and forth across the Pitch, trying to determine using his own experience in the air who was holding the advantage in play.

The game, like the score, was tight in the beginning. Neither Keeper was playing particularly well, in fact Slytherin's Thane Breedlove was playing some of the worst positioning that James had ever seen, but the Beaters were doing such a good job of preventing the Chasers from getting any momentum going that they did not have to stop that many shots.

James was still watching Nick's attempts to work the Quaffle up the Pitch when he heard Zach shouting beside him "Look!"

Then, the air rushed out of the Pitch like someone had sucked it out with a giant vacuum cleaner; the Seekers were rushing for the Snitch … bearing down closer and closer. They were dead even, there was not an inch between them.

Then, a streak of color, and the two Seekers pulled apart, one shaking his fist in the air as his Teammates cascaded down at him; the players meeting in a massed huddle as they cheered their victory.

"Justin Shindler has caught the Snitch! Ravenclaw wins the House Cup!" screamed Brian as three quarters of the stands erupted into cheers. "That's my brother!" Darren shouted, showing more life than James had ever seen out of the normally quiet boy, "That's _my_ brother!"

"Slytherin can't win nothing!" James cheered, high fiving Albus, who was joining in the continuation of the rather juvenile chants concerning Slytherins and a part of the male anatomy that was best left unmentioned.

"Hey James!" Andrew shouted, his voice sounding neither jubilant, nor excited: but fearful. "Zach's gone!"

"What are you talking about?" James asked, spinning around to see that Zach was indeed gone. But he had been there just seconds before, he had been the one who had pointed out to James that the Seekers had spotted the Snitch hadn't he?

James glanced in all directions, but there was no sign of Zach's familiar freckled visage, the boy had vanished! Then, on a whim, he happened to look behind him, over the railings at the end of the Quidditch Pitch and onto the grounds surrounding the Pitch, and that was when he saw it.

James saw a pair of hooded figures, running across the grounds in a full sprint, carrying between them a large misshapen cloth sack between them as they raced for the forest. That would have been odd enough, but James could clearly see a pair of legs sticking out from the sack that they carried between them. Whoever these men were, they must have grabbed Zach in the mayhem after the Match and taken off.

"Hey, have any of you noticed that Parker's left already? That's pretty classless!" he heard Jeremey muttering from behind him. Sure enough, the Slytherin Captain had immediately rushed from the Pitch, not bothering to wait for the traditional post game handshakes. That was pretty classless, but what if there was something else behind it?

The figures carrying Zach were disappearing into the trees, James knew that he needed to act fast. "Guys come on, we've got to go! Now!" he shouted.

"Aw come on James, I want to see Nick with the Cup. And Jason, and Paul." Albus protested, adding the other two names mostly as an afterthought.

"Yea James, let's stick around." Fred argued.

"No, you guys are coming with me! Now!" James yelled, and Albus shrugged and got out of his seat. Jeremey and Andrew, though clearly annoyed, did the same. Fred however was not moving.

"Suit yourself!" James snapped, and raced from the Pitch with the other three behind him. He didn't really have much of a plan, but he knew that they needed to follow those men before they took Zach somewhere … bad?

Wow, he really didn't have a plan.

* * *

By the time they had reached the grounds and continued running towards the forest, the others had caught up with him and immediately started asking questions.

"Alright James, what's up?" snapped Andrew, clearly disappointed that they had all rushed out of the Pitch before the end.

"I saw … people, in big cloaks … carrying Zach … into the forest! Gotta help him!" James panted, his eyes fixated on the tree line ahead of him, trying to figure out how they were going to follow them into the forest, he had long since lost sight of the men.

"Wouldn't it have been a better idea to tell a teacher about this?" Asked Albus, though he made no effort to turn around and alert a teacher. Yes, that would probably have been the better idea, but James had not thought of it at the time; and now it was too late. If they turned back now they would have no chance of catching up to them.

Besides, if James was right, and _He_ was there, James wanted to be able to take that brute on for himself.

Because James knew, he knew with every fiber of his being, that Remington Parker was behind this! That was why he had rushed from the Match so quickly, in order to get out into the forest in time for … whatever was about to happen!

It had to be the Magical History Movement! There were only so many organizations that had gone around stalking around the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry lately, and seeing as the MHM was supposedly still looking for their supposed 'Heir' they would most certainly have to still be in the area! After all, if the Herbal Rights Group had camped out in the forest, undetected, for two weeks to 'uncover' the inhumane treatment of mandrakes in the Hogwarts greenhouses, surely the MHM could get away with it.

And seeing as they had determined long ago that Remington had to be the heir, he must have arranged for this kidnapping for some kind of … ritual of some sort! Yea, that made perfect sense! All of those Dark Magic Rites required a blood sacrifice or something like that, didn't they? And wouldn't it have been just perfect for Remington to get his revenge on the kid who had dared to tackle him at the Quidditch Game at the same time?

Yes, it all fit perfectly! He did not know why he had not seen it before, but at the same time there was one lingering question. If Remington _was_ the Heir, then why on earth was he still hanging around at Hogwarts for all of this time? Why was he not out … what did those crazy people do … trying to take over the world or something?

"James, we don't even know where we're going!" Andrew exclaimed, panting from the exertion of trying to keep pace with the other boys. Andrew always had been dead awful at anything athletic, that was why his attempts to make the Quidditch Team had failed … he just didn't have the stamina.

"I know what I'm doing!" James snapped, "I just … have to work out a few of the details." He admitted, as they ducked underneath a low branch as they continued forward.

The forest was a never ending labyrinth of trees and foliage, it could take them forever to find where they were going, if they ever did, and by that time it would be far too late for Zach! They needed a more efficient way to find their way, but they didn't have time to figure one out. It was the ultimate Catch 22, and they were playing with the life of their friend!

"Look James, let's just go back while we still have time and tell McGonagall what's going …" But Jeremey did not have time to finish, as James immediately gestured for him to be silent. There was a slight rustling, almost silent, but definitely present amidst the other sounds of the forest, they were being followed!

In one swift motion, James spun on his heel and shouted "Freeze, I'll stun you I swear to god I will!" his wand was drawn, his teeth clenched.

"I'm sure you would love that wouldn't you Jamie?" Came the sarcastic voice of his cousin, Rose Weasley, as the girl struggled to climb over a fallen tree trunk. The drama surrounding her arrival was diluted somewhat when she tripped on a loose branch after clambering over the tree, but James was still dumbfounded.

"Rose!" Albus exclaimed finally, breaking the silence. "What are you doing here?"

"Following you lot of course," Rose said, as though the answer had been glaringly obvious from the start. "You didn't really expect me to sit there and watch you guys go running off into the forest like madmen? I knew you were up to something."

James ignored Rose's thinly veiled insult and asked "Well, did you say anything to a teacher before you came after us? Did you talk to _anyone_ before you came after us?" It was their one slim hope that perhaps Rose had mentioned her intentions to someone.

Rose rolled her eyes, as though James' question was typically foolish. "Of course not James, god you must think that I'm completely _thick_ or something!"

Ordinarily James would have been proud of this answer, but today it just confirmed the nagging fact that they were completely and inalterably alone in their endeavor. Not the best of conditions to be in when you were going against a band of murderous Dark Wizards, led by the most evil person in all of Hogwarts: Remington Parker.

Then there was a shout off in the distance, a shout of "We have him my lord!" and a cacophony of accompanying shouts and hollers. James' heart leapt, they had a sense of direction now, but that just made the danger all the more real. Why did he always get caught up in situations like this? He was not his father, he didn't have any special magical powers, he was just a regular twelve year old kid … well, a Wizard kid, but still.

"Alright," James sighed, "We'll discuss this later! For now we've got to go help Zach, Rose you should really just get out of here while you have the chance." It didn't matter that he had no weapons, no special powers to protect himself. Zach was his friend, and he could not just leave his friend to be sacrificed in some gruesome Dark Rite or Ritual! He had to do something while he still could!

Of course, Rose refused to leave, James knew she would; the cousins were too similar in that regard, and while Rose had acted like a boring stump all year long the real Rose was starting to shine through. That refusal to leave and get out of the way of a fight that was not hers was probably going to get her into trouble one day, but at the same time James was glad to have his cousin by his side … especially as she was acting in a very old – Rose – like way today.

* * *

It did not take them long to stumble upon the clearing from which they had heard the voices coming from. James was, uncomfortably, reminded of the similar scene in which he had found himself the previous year. Geez, did everyone set up base in some clearing in the Forbidden Forest? Why did there have to be so many ancient powerful things about Hogwarts? Even if, in this case, that powerful object was actually a Seventh Year student.

As they reached the edge of the clearing, and hunkered down in a bush, James looked in all directions for Remington Parker, for the final ultimate proof that he had been right all along. Then, he heard a voice booming out,

"Tonight, Slytherin's Heir has returned to us! And tonight, in the light of the Full Moon, on the most hallowed birthday of Salazar Slytherin himself, we shall anoint him king as is his right!"

That must be it, he was waiting to make some grand dramatic entrance, so where was he hiding? If he could find him now he could knock him out before he suspected anything.

"As the most humbled servant of the Order of Slytherin, I Malcolm Raghnall, make this humble offering to noble Slytherin! Bestow your gifts of power upon your last remaining Heir, Zachary Alexander Tolentino!"

**GASP! Who would ever have seen this coming? The signs are there if you look closely enough, even if Zachary doesn't quite know it himself. Thanks to everyone who's still following, and please don't forget to REVIEW! Even if you have been following but haven't reviewed any thus far, it would mean a lot if you did now. :)**

**Stay tuned, the end is near! ... Well, for Bloodlines anyway. :P  
**


	23. Chapter 23: The True Heir Emerges

Chapter Twenty-Three: The True Heir Emerges

No! It could not be, it simply could not be! Zach Tolentino could not be the Heir of Slytherin, the one that the Magical History Movement had been so desperately chasing after all year! It just didn't fit, it was all wrong; it was a violation against nature itself!

For one thing, Zach was a Gryffindor, and everyone knew that Gryffindors and Slytherins hated each other with a burning passion. OK, perhaps that was not necessarily true in every case, but still; if Zach was really Slytherin's Heir then what on earth was he doing in Gryffindor House? No, it simply was not possible; this had to be a mistake of some kind, or a trick!

But there it was, sitting right there in front of him as plain as clear day could possibly be. And James knew, though he tried to deny it, that this was all actually happening, that it really was Zach that was tied against the tree trunk in front of him. He could see from here the golden bracelet on his wrist identical to the one that hung from his own, and he could just make out the slight tuft on the left hand side of his sweater that he tucked into his trousers … why he did this James never understood, but it was one of those little things that helped prove to James that this was no imposter, this was the real Zachary Tolentino that he saw before him.

From the expressions on the faces of the others, James was sure that he was not the only one who was wishing that he could deny what he saw in front of them. But like James, they all knew in their hearts that it was truly their friend … but how? Zach … the Heir of Slytherin? It just didn't make sense, it did not fit at all, Zach didn't have any of the qualities of a Slytherin! He was never mean or nasty to anyone, he was always the guy who tried to get James to calm down and back off when things got out of hand wasn't he?

Zach was the nice one, the one who always took time to help other people out and do the right thing, except for the fact that he often gave in and followed along with what the others were trying to do. And he was a Gryffindor! None of this just made any sense whatsoever! Of everyone in the entire Castle, Zach was the least likely person in the entire Castle to actually be the Heir! Even he, James, seemed a more likely candidate than Zach!

But here was the Magical History Movement, claiming that Zach was the Heir that everyone had been speculating about. There was no doubt in James' mind that if this was who they had targeted all year, then there was no arguing that they had the wrong guy. If they had spent so long chasing after their Heir then they must have been absolutely certain of his identity.

Had James been alone, he might have sat there in shock for eternity without ever moving or speaking ever again. But thankfully, his brother was able to snap himself out of his own stupor long enough to try and recapture James' attention.

"James, we've gotta do something!" Albus hissed, staring into the clearing as though he wished that he could rush out there and grab the boy at that very moment, but of course that was not a possibility. Attempting something like that would mean certain death for all of them, and by extension that would spell the end of any chance for getting Zach out of there.

"I know," James whispered back, sounding as though he had just come out of a trance "But for now we have to wait." He continued, wanting nothing more than to kick himself in the shin for saying what he was saying. It sounded as though he was giving up and abandoning his friend to this fate.

"We have to bide our time, and wait until we have the right time to do something." James said at last, hating the fact that he had no other choice, especially because he did not have the slightest idea as to when that time was going to come. Unfortunately, he was quite certain that right now was not the 'right time'.

Of course, they could just go charging blindly into a mob of Dark Wizards who probably would have a perfectly fun time killing them! Yea, that's a great idea that would get them somewhere … like in a coffin ten feet below the ground. No, they needed to think this through very carefully: the one problem being that his brain was refusing to cooperate with him and come up with any kind of reasonable plan.

Well, maybe that wasn't too out of the ordinary for James.

* * *

The students hunched behind the hedgerows immediately fell silent as Malcolm Raghnall began speaking again. The man's voice was deep and resonated as though it came from within the depths of the forest itself. The man clearly had great motivational skills as an orator, which would explain why he was the one in charge of this operation.

"Now, as we all know, young Master Tolentino here has been rather resistant to our efforts to anoint him to his rightful place. That was no more than we expected, after all he like many others of his generation was brainwashed into believing that the Dark Lord was some kind of deranged mass murderer!"

Rose quickly opened her mouth, most likely to shout back that most people believed that because it was true, but Albus very wisely slapped a hand over her mouth before she could start talking, just moments before both brothers gave the girl a look of the utmost frustration. Rose was supposed to be the smart kid, and yet here she was about to get them all killed because she couldn't keep her mouth shut.

Besides, that was James' job!

"Dou're tewling be." One of the taller men there muttered quietly, heard only by the five students who, unbeknownst to him, lay silently in the bushes just behind him. He sounded as though someone had broken his nose, or punched him in the jaw; and James grinned with the knowledge that Zach had at least not gone down without a fight.

"But, we have planned for this." Malcolm continued, "We understood from the start the likelihood of a lack of cooperation from the boy. That is why we have waited until today, for one this night, and on this night only, we can solve that problem with the greatest of efficiency."

Silence was his only answer, no one dared to speak they just listened in awestruck and respectful silence. James glanced at Andrew and muttered "What's tonight, why is tonight so important to them?"

Andrew, who had always been the one who knew random tidbits and facts that had no practical application in life, was for the first time in his life: clueless. "I haven't a clue. Didn't he say something about Slytherin?"

"Yes," Malcolm said, as though he had heard the twelve year old in the bushes and was speaking directly to him as he continued with his monologue "For tonight, on the date of the birth of the greatest of Hogwarts Founders, the almighty Salazar Slytherin, we shall ensure that we never encounter such problems again: with this!"

In a single fluid motion, the man drew a silver pendant from a hidden pocket within his robes and held it high above his head. "The Pendant of Cleopatra!"

Perhaps this was supposed to be his dramatic moment, the moment where everyone let out a gasp of shock and awe at the powerful magical artifact which he had uncovered, but it soon became very clear that no one, student of adult, had even the slightest idea what it was, as his only response was deadpan silence.

The pedant was small, and perfectly circular, and it reflected the moon's light off of it like a nimbus of the purist light. It swung as though on a pendulum, and seemed to be calling out to James like a siren's song as he stared at it in wonder. Not because of what kind of magical properties it might have possessed, but because it was _shiny_, and James Potter loved _anything_ that was shiny.

However, it quickly became evident to the man that his moment of drama was going to be ruined by the fact that apparently he was the only one who knew what in Merlin's name he was holding above his head. Lowering the pendant with some annoyance he explained almost imploringly to those assembled the power of the tiny circle in his hand.

"The Pendant of Cleopatra?" he asked, looking for anyone who would know what he was referring to, "That which Cleopatra was able to use to enchant the great Mark Antony?" Though no one was certain what he was talking about, one or two of them thought it would be a good idea to nod, and from these nods the man began to press onwards with a dramatic flourish "It was with this pendant that Dynasties and Empires have risen and fallen. And now, today, we shall use it to begin again anew!"

The man's voice had now taken on a new rigor and strength, as though the words that he was saying were slowly strengthening him, making him seem even more dominating and intimidating than he had been before.

"For in the light of a full moon, on a night in which the very fabric of magic is palpable in the air, the Pendant can be used to warp the minds of he or she who wears it to the will of those who bestow it upon them. With this, Slytherin's Heir will join our cause, and the world shall see the true might and power that we wield! He will see the light of our cause, and join it willingly!"

The stunned silence that James had been expecting to come of this revelation did not come, instead a woman cried out, "But this is ridiculous! There are far simpler ways of commanding someone's will! He could be Imperiused, or have his memory modified! Why was all of this necessary?"

Malcolm Raghnall stiffened, this was a man who was not accustomed to being questioned. "You dare to question me?" He roared, drawing back his wand and shouting "Your insolence shall cost you dearly, Crucio!"

The woman was cast towards the ground like a useless piece of rubbish that had been carelessly tossed aside. As she reached the ground, her body began to twitch and contort in pain. James could do nothing but grimace sympathetically. Evil as this woman must have been to be a member of the MHM, he knew the pain that the Cruciatus Curse could inflict, and did not wish it upon anyone.

Malcolm Raghnall stood over her, jabbing his wand at her over and over, causing her to renew her howls of pain as she rolled across the grassy floor of the forest. "You … shall … learn … some … respect!" be barked, enunciating each word with a fresh dose of pain for the poor wretched figure that twitched feebly at his feet.

The dozen or so watching members of the Magical History Movement looked as though this were a commonplace occurrence to them, and some of them almost looked bored. But the expressions of horror on the faces of the five students hidden mere yards away could not have been more different. To James, it seemed as though the shouts and shrieks would never stop, and he wanted nothing more than to turn on his heel and run away and never look back, but if he did that then Zach was done for.

When at last Raghnall ceased his attack upon the woman her screams had long since died out, and she was completely still on the ground. James was not sure, but he was afraid that Raghnall might have kept the torture up for so long that he had killed her! But no one else moved, no one went to see if she was dead or alive, to see if she needed help, they just left her there indifferently!

Beside him, James saw Rose and Albus trembling, covering their eyes in fear of what they had just seen occur before them. Just behind them, Jeremey was pale faced and wide eyed, seemingly in disbelief of what he had just seen. Andrew was biting his lip so hard that he had drawn blood, something that he either had not noticed, or did not care about.

"Of course, she did raise a good point." Malcolm Raghnall said coolly; as though he had done nothing more than lightly chastise the woman after her question. "There are many, many ways of demanding a person's obedience and loyalty, so why on earth did we insist on following this line of planning?"

This time, nobody was foolish enough to speak up this time, which seemed to suit the man just fine. Looking down, the first acknowledgement that he had given the woman he had just tortured, he said "Someone get this filth out of my sight."

There was a pop, and the body at his feet vanished, there could no longer be any doubt that the woman had been killed, and James could faintly hear Rose trying to keep herself from sobbing. _Not now Rose!_ He thought furiously, _Not now!_

"Modified Memories can be broken through," Malcolm Raghnall began slowly, his voice slowly building in tempo and grandeur. "Imperius Curses can be broken out of, as can most other methods of control. But once someone has been taken under the enchantment of the Pendant of Cleopatra, they will _never_ break free of its hold!"

James' felt a chill at the base of his neck, one that spread throughout his entire body within a matter of seconds. This was magic the likes of which he had never even heard of in his entire life. The possibility of such complete and total control was impossible to comprehend! It was a destruction of the very thing that made someone human: free will!

"The other advantage," added Malcolm Raghnall, startling all of those gathered as they had believed his speech to have long since concluded, "Is that those enchanted by the Pendant of Cleopatra will show no outwards signs of their condition. They will act and look in all respects as though they are acting of their own free will, the only difference being that their allegiances and values have been forever changed, in this case for the better."

"We can't let them put that thing on him!" hissed Andrew, who was already creeping forward out of the bushes. James grabbed a hold of his leg, preventing him from moving any further. "Not yet!" he hissed back, pulling Andrew back beneath the foliage that was providing them with cover, "We have to wait. I know that this is crazy but we can't help him if we rush into this. We need a plan!"

"You think we've got time for that?" Andrew hissed back, so loudly that James was afraid someone must have heard him, "Look!" he implored, pointing at the movement going on in the clearing.

Unfortunately, Andrew was right; making a plan was something that was going to take time, something that they did not have at the moment. As Malcolm Raghnall was already lifting the Pendant high over the head of Zach whom, James only now realized, had been conscious for this entire time. Unrealized by James, Zach had been listening to all of this, and had been futilely struggling against his bonds the entire time.

"By the ancient magics and old rites of this world, I … Malcolm Xavier Raghnall, servant of the noble bloodlines of Slytherin's kin, and obedient servant of the Magical History Movement, and the Dark Lord himself, proclaim that on this, the 23rd Day of May in the year of our lord 2018, the last of Slytherin's descendants shall reclaim his rightful place amidst the kings and lords of legend!"

Zach's face shone a bright red from across the clearing, he was trying to scream and shout but could not because of the gag that had been roughly shoved into his mouth. The ropes that bound him were not loosening their grips, and James could see that one of the ropes was beginning to cut into Zach's wrist, and was starting to draw blood.

Something had to be done, they _had_ to do something, they simply could not sit by and watch as this happened! But there was nothing to do, nothing that could stop or prevent what was happening. For the hand that held the Pendant high over Zach's head was surely the unstoppable hand of fate itself…

**Ooh, two cliffhangers in a row? Please don't kill me, and please remember to REVIEW! Stick around, the next chapter's gonna be even better, the questions have all been answered, so now it's time to get down to business. Can James and the gang save their friend Zach, or will he be lost forever to be the slave of the Magical History Movement? Either way, the end is near ... for Book Two! But never fear, because Book Three will follow soon enough.**

**Thanks to everyone who's been sticking with me. Hope you keep reading and REVIEWING, Book Three's gonna be better than anything you guys have seen thus far, I promise. :)  
**


	24. Chapter 24: A Misguided Mission

Chapter Twenty-Four: A Misguided Mission

In retrospect, after everything that James had said about thinking their plans through and not just rushing into matters before they fully understood what was going to come from their actions sounded rather hypocritical now that he was about to just go running into the middle of the clearing to stop this. Because, as much as it went against what he had been saying for the last half hour, that was exactly what he was about to do.

That wasn't to say that James was perfectly prepared to go rushing out into a crowd of Dark Wizards, the very thought of what he was about to do was enough to fill him with dread. But the fact that it was one of his best friends whose life was in danger here made it unquestionable in James' mind that he carry through with this.

OK, so _technically_ his life wasn't actually in jeopardy, but as far as James was concerned that was exactly what he was staring down right now.

"Alright, we're gonna move." James muttered, the fear beginning to show in his voice. As much as he wanted to exude confidence in this situation, he hadn't the slightest idea what they would possibly be able to do against these Dark Wizards. They did not even have the advantage of numbers on their side, there were five of them … plus Zach if they could manage to cut him loose … against at least ten members of the Magical History Movement.

Of course even if they had possessed the advantage of numbers, that would not have been of much comfort when one considered the impressive skills that these Witches and Wizards must have had at their fingertips. If what James had seen last year was anything to go by, this organization was made up of brutal and merciless killers; a thought which did nothing to make James feel any better about what he was about to try to do.

But, James was not simply going to sit by and watch while his friend was … well, there wasn't really a word for it, possessed was the best he could think of … by these people! Zach was one of his best friends, and he was not one to leave his friends behind!

So as James began creeping forward and drew his wand from his pocket, he pointed it first not at any of the Dark Witches and Wizards who were closest to him, but rather at Malcolm Raghnall, the supposed leader of this operation whose hands were now inches away from Zach's face.

"Expelliarmus!" James hissed, as a jet of red light sprang from his wand and sped with all the speed of Professor Ambrose when confronted with a member of the opposite sex … or more accurately, with all the speed of a woman confronted with Professor Ambrose. That man was a girl magnet, but he was set the wrong way: instead of attracting, he repelled them.

The jet of red light reached Malcolm Raghnall just as the Pendant of Cleopatra was about to make contact with Zach's skin. Just when James was starting to think that he had been to slow, the Pendant flew out of the man's hand as though he had decided to throw it up in the air to someone who was standing right behind him. The only problem was, that there was no one there, and the silver disc vanished into a cluster of bushes.

"What the devil?" the man exclaimed, drawing his wand. "I thought that you made sure that you were not seen!" he barked to two men who were looking as though their execution had just been scheduled. Then again, in light of recent events, it probably had been: if that woman had been killed for interrupting, their penalty would have to be far steeper.

Though, in all fairness, the two men seemed to be doing a very good job of not dissolving into sniveling crying wrecks, which is more than James could say he would have done. Even in his position of some security, James shook in fear at the force of the man's words, this was a man who was clearly accustomed to giving orders and having them followed to the letter.

Just as it had been moments before, the clearing had fallen completely silent, but this time it was an atmosphere of terror, rather than confusion, that surrounded it. Even Zach, his chest heaving as he struggled to recapture his breath after having spent the last fifteen minutes screaming his head off, had fallen dead silent. It was as though each person in the clearing was trying to individually convince themselves that what they had just seen take place had actually happened.

In this moment of quiet James glanced sideways at the others, all of whom had drawn their wands and were looking at him expectantly, pale faced and silent. James did not speak either, his throat felt as dry as sandpaper, and nodded curtly, there was only one thing left to do. They had made their presence known and could no longer slip away even if they wanted to, it was time to get the inevitable over with. If ever there had been a time where they could have turned back, that time was long gone now.

"Immobulus!" James shouted as he leapt out of the bushes, a cry that was mirrored by various other jinxes and hexes coming from those beside him. Almost immediately, four of the ten standing before them crumpled as they were hit by whatever hex was directed at them, and James' heart leapt in his chest with the hope that they could prevail after all.

However, James' hope was short lived, as two of the Dark Wizards immediately rose to their feet again, looking absolutely furious but otherwise unharmed. They had lost the element of surprise, and now they were completely outnumbered and outclassed, there was no way that they were getting out of this one; their luck had run out.

* * *

"Drop your wands!" came the shout from across the clearing before anyone the collection of students could so much as think of another spell to cast. "Drop your wands …" came the command again, more frantic, as though the voice behind them had lost its nerve.

James hesitated for a fraction of a second, no more, but that fraction of a second was enough. He did not need to hear the shouts, nor did he need to see the flashes of light to know that he had made a fatal error, and though he could not see the others who stood behind him, he knew that they had made the same mistake.

A half dozen jets of purple light sailed across the clearing, connecting with each of the students and rooting them to the spot. James was unfamiliar with this kind of freezing spell, but a moments experimentation told him that he seemed to still be able to talk, though he could not seem to move anything else. Clearly Malcolm Raghnall wanted a captive audience … perhaps there was to be a sacrifice tonight after all. But the sacrifice was not to be Zach, it was them!

However, as the seconds trickled on into minutes, Malcolm Raghnall did nothing, said nothing, gave no order to attack, to kill the children who had dared to interfere with his mission. Instead, he simply stared at them as though they were some interesting specimen of insect that he had found crawling along his porch.

Both sides simply stared at each other, all fuming in rage with the exception of Malcolm Raghnall, who merely seemed bemused by the whole event. The members of the Magical History Movement dared not act without the say so of their leader, while the children were too filled with fear after the failure of their first strike to risk another one. And so the groups simply stood there, a definite sense of anticlimax developing as they did so.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, but could not have really been longer than a minute or so, the man spoke. If James had been expecting anger, or even surprise, then he was sorely mistaken. Rather, the man sounded as though he was merely scolding a misbehaving child who had eaten one cookie too many before his dinner.

"Well well well," he began, striding towards the bush in which the students were standing up from … which was quite uncomfortable as it happened. "I should have known that we'd have to deal with a bunch of interfering little maggots like yourself! So tell me boy, what in the world are a bunch of children like yourselves doing in such a dangerous place? After all, this forest is supposed to be … _Forbidden._"

But then his gaze came to rest of James and Albus, who were standing side by side, the only two children who were not betraying any outward signs of fear, and his expression changed instantly. On the contrary, they were staring at the man in disgust and defiance, though what he thought of this was difficult to say.

"Ah, but of course." He remarked in a tone that was hard to read, "I should have known by now to expect nothing less from the brats of _Harry Potter_." He said, spitting out the name of James' father like it was something foul and ugly.

Staring at Albus with clear distaste, the man continued taking longer and longer with each word "You look just like him, just like that traitor. But I wonder, you are not your father, will you be a traitor like him? Or will you be able to see the light that is shown only to so few."

He turned away from them and waved his hand, as though it did not matter to him in the slightest. "A pity that we shall never get the chance to find out, there seems to be great promise in the pair of you if one only had the time to enlighten you. A true pity indeed, but I have express instructions that if I were to ever see James Potter stick his nose where it didn't belong again, I was to kill him and anyone who accompanied him." Glancing once more over his shoulder, he whispered again "… such a waste."

The man seemed to think for a moment before flicking his wand at the group of students casually, causing each of them to tumble to the ground as the weight of their bodies came back on top of their legs. "I will allow you to die like men, with honor, and you should be grateful enough for that."

James rose shakily to his feet, glancing slowly back at his brother, who was doing the same. If he was hearing right … and he hoped he wasn't … things had just gotten ten times worse than they already had been.

With a snap of his fingers, he pointed over his shoulder at them as he went looking for the Pendant and said "Kill them, and be quick about it, I still have work to do this evening!"

* * *

James' heart died in his throat at the man's words, they had been no more than he had been expecting to hear, but the sound of the actual words actually being said just made it seem all the more real to him. James, along with the others standing beside him, automatically raised his wand to chest height in a defensive stand, though he knew that it would not be of much use.

It was clear that the Magical History Movement did not view them as much of a threat, else they would have simply executed them whilst they were immobilized. The only reason that they were still alive was because of some twisted impression by their leader that it would be more 'honorable' to kill a bunch of twelve year olds on their feet than on their knees.

James' breath seemed unusually loud to him, as though all of his senses were heightened and enhanced by the fear and unease that he had been feeling. The sounds of his own breathing was almost alien to him, as though he had never fully appreciated just how much effort it had taken his body to keep him alive. Well, it looked like all of that work and effort was going to come to an end very soon.

The collection of Dark Witches and Wizards who stood before them began to slowly raise their wands upwards towards the children, clearly not in any rush to eliminate the students they saw, who didn't even look remotely threatening.

It was Rose, surprisingly enough, who broke them out of their stupor; showing more backbone than James had ever seen her display in her entire life. Stepping in between the rest of them and the members of the Magical History Movement who were preparing to rip into them, Rose shouted a spell that James had never heard of before, "Stupefy!"

Though the curse was foreign to James, Rose clearly knew what it was that she was doing, as a jet of red light had burst from her wand and knocked one of the Dark Wizards off his feet and sent him flying through the air into a tree. The man's head lolled on his shoulder's limply but otherwise he was still.

"Bloody hell!" Andrew exclaimed, before ducking as a jet of green light soared through the air where his head had been just moments before. The Magical History Movement had dropped their lackadaisical attitude, and was now furiously going after the students who they had just seconds before been laughing at.

"Expelliarmus!" James shouted, disarming the nearest Dark Wizard who had been pointing his wand at an unsuspecting Andrew, who was busy dodging curses from another member of the MHM. The man glared at James furiously as his wand flew from his hand, and he was reaching into his cloak for something when another one of Rose's strange spells sent him flying to the forest floor.

* * *

James screamed in pain as his arm was cut by a jet of orange light that had been cast from the wand of one of the five remaining Dark Wizards. Malcolm Raghnall had not yet returned from his search for the Pendant of Cleopatra, which must have gone further into the surrounding forest than James had originally thought.

A while before, one of the Dark Wizards had given up on Killing Curses, perhaps they required too much energy for him by then, and was instead aiming at James and Rose with an inaudible spell that came rushing at them in jets of orange light. James had never seen a curse like that before, but all of his questions had been answered when one of them had glanced his arm.

The curse had ripped the flesh from his shoulder, and he had no doubt that if one hit him in a vital area, that the damage caused would most certainly be fatal! The curse had only just grazed his upper arm, and already it was leaking a steady stream of blood that welled on the ground beneath his feet.

The only reason that they were still standing was because the Dark Wizards were standing entirely exposed in the clearing, whilst they had managed to scatter behind various trees surrounding the clearing. It was not much of an advantage, but it was the only thing that had been keeping them alive all of this time.

As James grasped his arm, he heard a muffled grunt and saw another member of the Magical History Movement crumple to the ground. Things were starting to look up!

However, no sooner had he thought this, than he heard a scream of agony, followed by a voice yelling "Shit, Jer get up! Get up! Come on, you've got to get up!" It was Andrew who was screaming, presumably shaking Jeremey's limp form at that very moment.

Jeremey was out of commission, but what did that mean? Had their luck finally began to run out? Or was he just unconscious like the numbers of still figures of Dark Wizards that lay scattered before them? Despite all of the chaos that surrounded them, he had to know! Until he knew, nothing else mattered.

Ignoring the every survival instinct in his body that was screaming at him to do otherwise, James leapt out from behind the tree that he had been cowering behind, darting between trees as curses rattled around him like the world's deadliest light's show. He avoided death by inches several times, but seconds later he reached the tree behind which Andrew was crouching at last.

"What's going on?" James asked frantically, skidding to the floor as he slid behind the tree and examining his friend for signs of life. "You better not be dead you son of a gun!" James grunted as he turned Jeremey over, "I swear to Merlin Jer, if you're dead I…" the words would not come, but they did not need to. Jeremey was not moving, but he was definitely not dead, his best friend was most definitely breathing. "Oh thank god." James breathed, still looking to Andrew for explanation.

"He got hit by one of those orange curses." Andrew explained nervously, "It kinda nicked him and he spun off into the tree. I think the impact's what knocked him out." Andrew was bending over to check Jeremey's breathing again when a curse exploded against the tree they were crouched behind, and sent fragments of bark flying around them.

James shielded his eyes from the blast, and when the dust cleared, Andrew was slumped against the ground as well. Things were slowly starting to look more and more hopeless as time went on.

"James!" Albus called out, ducking underneath a tree trunk that had fallen during the fight, "Come on! Let's go!"

Leaving the pair where they lay on the forest floor, James crept up around the edge of the nearest tree and glanced forward into the clearing. There were only two Dark Wizards there, if they could just manage to disarm the pair of them, then they would be home free.

But then, the world was rent in two by a shout that had all of the ferocity and power of death itself. Malcolm Raghnall had reentered the clearing, and his face was flushed with barely suppressed rage.

"ENOUGH!" he roared, causing the firefight of curses to cease as all present stared as him in hushed awe. Even James could not bring himself to say or do anything. It was as though he could command the essence of magic through his every word.

"I have to do everything myself don't I?" demanded Malcolm Raghnall, no longer amused, no longer fascinated by the lost potential of the students he was about to kill, and now completely fueled by a burning rage which seemed to burn up the air in front of him like a writhing flame. Staring around the clearing at the remaining combatants, the man stabbed his wand forward and screeched "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

James could do nothing but watch as the Killing Curse followed its path straight towards Malcolm Raghnall's target, and watch in silent horror as the body collapsed, limp and dead …

**Dun! Dun! DUN! You may as well call this "James Potter and the Many Cliffhangers" for all it's worth at this point, and what with my irregular posting that must get pretty annoying, eh? Sorry about the cliffhangers, but at least it keeps things interesting right?**

**Sorry especially for the long wait on this one, my May has been absolutely crazy, but the next chapter should be up in a week. *knock on wood* From now on I am going to do my best to keep to the once-a-week updating...but don't hold me to it. lol. My schedule's out of control lately, so we'll see what happens. :)**

**A thanks to everyone who has stuck with me, Book Two is coming to an end, but worry not Book Three will follow shortly. Keep reading, and please REVIEW! Reviews are what makes all of this worthwhile for me, cause if no one's reading and enjoying this stuff then I'm really just writing to myself, and that's no fun at all.**

**A thanks to all of my readers, whether you've been reading my stuff since way back in August or if you just stumbled across me today, each and every one of you are awesome!**


	25. Chapter 25: To Be a Martyr

Chapter Twenty-Five: To be a Martyr?

The Curse sailed through the air, spelling the instant death of the person for whom it was destined. James knew with complete and absolute certainty that they had reached the end, the time of measured restraint had come to an end, and now the gloves were finally off.

The Magical History Movement was at long last shooting to kill, and yet it was not James who took the fatal curse! For it was not James who had been targeted, nor was it Albus or Rose, nor was it even Jeremey or Andrew!

No, none of them were fated to die from that Curse, for it was the two standing Dark Wizards who had been targeted by their leader; furious over the failure of his minions to carry out his bidding in the manner to which he had ordered them. The fact that a group of children had been enough trouble to incapacitate several of their number was an unacceptable failure, and one which would cost them their lives.

"Avada Kedavra!" he shouted again, causing the second standing man to crumple to the ground in a heap. Thus was his penalty for his failure to act at the proper time, his nonchalant demeanor when acting out on his master's wishes, his allowance of these obstacles to remain in their path for so long, had lead to his terrible fate.

"A gallant effort young Master Potter!" Malcolm Raghnall's voice boomed out as though he were standing right beside them. "But all for naught I'm afraid. Now surrender, and I will ensure that your deaths are as quick and painless as possible! If you continue to resist, then you will meet a slow and painful demise!"

James did not move, nor did Albus or Rose, they all sat in tortured silence as they waited for what would come next. Whatever it was, they knew it was not going to be pleasant; this man was an indiscriminate killer, a creature without restraint or mercy! The talk of slowly torturing them to death seemed to fill him with immense pleasure, and after seeing him murder his own followers, they had little doubt of the truth in his words.

Indeed, Malcolm Raghnall seemed to read James' mind as he spoke in a hysterical screech just a moment later. The man had expected an easy mission, in and out before there would even be time for such complications, and yet his objective was now being jeopardized by a bunch of schoolchildren. No doubt his own life would be on the line if his superiors found out that he had bungled such a crucial mission because of a quintet of twelve year olds.

"You doubt me." The man concluded in a bemused voice, as though he found their silence amusing. "Very well, I shall show you my determination." A moment later, there was a rushing sound, a sound of death and doom, a sound that's very essence filled James with dread.

"What do you think now?" the man screeched, a hint of insanity beginning to appear in his voice, around the outer layers of bemusement underneath which his demented nature lay like a cobra ready to strike. This was no longer funny to him, his mission was now being jeopardized and that threat needed to be eliminated!

"What think you now?" he repeated, "If I can kill my own servants without a second thought, then what reservations do you think that I'll have about killing insignificant little vermin like yourselves?" He laughed, as though his words were the funniest thing that he had ever heard in his entire life.

As he laughed, a shiver ran down James' spine; that was the laugh of a crazed and desperate man; a man with nothing to lose and nothing to fear. This man was not to be trifled with, and yet they had just done exactly that!

James wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his robes, and practically gasped in alarm when he saw blood as well as sweat. How long ago had he cut his head? And how on earth had he not noticed it?

A dreadful silence had descended upon the clearing, as all of those present had fallen silent at the emergence of Malcolm Raghnall, though James' every instinct was urging him to step forward and curse Raghnall, he knew that there was no way that it would work. He would be waiting for them to expose themselves like that to kill them. So what were they to do?

"I grow tired to waiting, very tired indeed James Potter!" Came the voice again, sounding oddly as though it was growing more distant. "I suppose that I'd better just take your little friend here and leave you children here. You're of no use to me, so why should I waste my precious time with you? My Master is very anxious to see young Master Tolentino, and he is not a man to be kept waiting."

So it came to this, all that they had done for all of this time to try and give themselves a chance to all get out alive, they no longer had any choice in the matter. The only thing that there was for it was to throw it all to the wind, because even if it meant that he himself would not walk away from this fight, he could not live with himself if he let Malcolm Raghnall take Zach unopposed.

So it didn't matter that he knew it was a trap, that it was exactly what Raghnall wanted him to do, it was quite simply a matter of doing the only thing that was left for him to do. Without taking the time to explain his plan to the others, James threw himself out from behind the tree and bellowed the first word that came into his head "Lumos!"

* * *

Wow, did he feel stupid. Even Malcolm Raghnall could do nothing besides stare in bemusement at the boy who had just dove out towards him, dramatically skidding across the dirt on his knees, but had done nothing besides light his wand tip. Had it not been for the fact that their lives were still in serious danger, the whole thing would have been almost comical.

"An impressive display, what were you hoping to do, blind me?" Malcolm Raghnall asked, showing a humor that James could not see in his fear. But then again, this man had nothing to fear from a bunch of children like them. With James out in the open his previous bravado had returned, he no longer had anything to fear.

"Expelliarmus!" he said, flicking his wand at James, who watched helplessly as his wand went flying through the air in an arc before settling in the grass yards away. Not that it really mattered anymore in any event, what could he possibly do at this point, even with a wand?

"I wonder, if I should just kill you quickly …" he began, clearly taking some kind of sick pleasure in watching James' helplessness, perhaps he wanted to make sure that James felt every ounce of fear that he had when his mission had nearly been compromised moments before. "Or if I should just be done with it quickly." he continued after a moment's pause, "I suppose that I should just kill you quickly, but after all the things that your father has done, I think that I'd much prefer to kill you slowly … to enjoy the pain in your eyes as I kill you."

James swallowed, there was nowhere to run, nothing to do, he was caught like a rat in a trap. His options had run out, he had thrown his one slim chance at saving himself out the window, and now he was done for.

"Yes," he said, as though confirming his own thoughts, "I think that I will kill you slowly. I'll just have to try and pretend that it's your father I'm killing." Glancing sideways at James he said "Shouldn't be all that hard, there is a slight resemblance."

James was no longer listening, he was looking around desperately for something, anything that he could use as a weapon … as a shield, to defend himself, to fight back. But there was nothing, nothing around him but grass and a few small twigs. Nothing that he could use to protect himself, nothing that was going to shield him from the twisted man's curses.

He could not even grab a wand from one of the stunned Dark Wizards, as Raghnall must have vanished or transfigured them when he had killed them in his rage.

"And then once I'm done with you, I'll finish off your stupid friends, that is if they were stupid enough to stick around and watch me kill you. If they had half a brain they would have ran back to the Castle by now." His wand was lowering towards James, who could see death staring at him from the tip of the man's wand. Two words, and it would all be over.

A bead of sweat was racing down James' forehead, passing down the side of his nose and winding its way towards his neck where it mingled with the blood that had pooled there from a collection of wounds of varying severity. He had raced into the forest, claiming to be prepared to die for his friend, without having thought of what that actually meant. Now that he was staring down the full implication of those actions, he was beginning to wonder if he had made the right choice.

"But take comfort in the fact that not all of your friends will die." He said, as though this should make James feel immeasurably better. "Your little friend Zachary will be a poster boy, the face of the grand Revisionist Movement of the History of Dark Lord! He will be as a King once we restore the Ministry to its brief and former glory and rid this world of the corruption that your father has infested it with.

* * *

The wand rose upwards, reaching it's apex above Malcolm Raghnall's head. "Any last words?" he asked James jeeringly, who could only stare upwards in a dumb rage. Last words? What was there to say? But then, last words had always been James' specialty, this should have been the moment where he dramatically decried the evil that Malcolm Raghnall was bringing to this world, and yet for what felt like the first time in his life he could not think of a smart remark.

But someone else could …

"Bombarda!" came the shouted cry, but it was not Malcolm Raghnall who had spoken, and it was not James either. At first, James thought that it had been a voice in his head, a desperate plea for something that could save him. Yet James was not hearing things, as a jet of light sped towards Raghnall's upraised wand, striking it dead center and blasting it in half as the both of them stared at it dumbfounded.

"What?" the man shouted, spinning around in disbelief as he shattered remains of his wand fell from his hand. At that exact same moment, casting aside the fear which had gripped him moments before, James seized the opportunity and leapt up, snatching the Pendant of Cleopatra, which Malcolm Raghnall held loosely in his left hand. He had already let one opportunity pass him by just moments before, and frightened as he was, he was not going to make the same mistake twice.

As he grasped the Pendant, James looked upwards to see who had cast the spell, expecting to see Albus or Rose … but it was neither of them. It was someone else, someone who should not have been there, should not have been fighting, but somehow was.

Standing before James, wand raised and face furious, was Zachary Tolentino.

* * *

"What the hell, but you were just …" James began, but was not able to finish as Malcolm Raghnall had just lunged at him. At the last moment, James was able to jump away, but when he landed on his back in the dirt, the man was only feet away from him, holding a dagger in his right hand, and looking more than ready to kill.

But even he could not hope to fight with four Wizards … albeit inexperienced ones … armed with wands while he did not have his own, and he knew this. As James grabbed his wand out of the dirt and raised it fiercely, the man continued backing up, James did not bother chasing him, where could he go?

"You shall pay for this James Potter!" he spat, "We do not forgive, and we do not forget! You will pay for your meddling some day, and I hope that I get to be there when you do! And YOU!" he shouted, glaring at Zach now, "We could have given you the world, but you've passed that up for an early grave. And you will pay for it one day!"

Without another word, the man snatched a large book that had been leaning against a tree, which seemed rather out of place to James, until the book began glowing blue.

Of course, Rose knew exactly what was going on as she pointed at the ancient volume and exclaimed "That's one of the Ancient Apparation Texts of Babylon! They're so old that the magical barriers around Hogwarts don't affect them!"

The aura around the man continued to get brighter as the words took time to sink into James' skull, when they did he almost toppled over in shock. Somehow the Magical History Movement had gotten their hands on a device that allowed them to, essentially, Apparate within the boundaries of Hogwarts! If they didn't do something, then he would be gone, and there was little doubt in James' head that they would never have an opportunity like this again to take out such a high-ranking member of the MHM!

"Crap! Stop him!" James shouted, as each of the others shouted the best spell they could think of, and at that moment there was a loud crack and the man disappeared without a trace, just as jets of red blue and purple lights crisscrossed in the empty space where Malcolm Raghnall had just been standing, but where there was now nothing but air.

While he knew that he should be angry that they had let Raghnall escape, James could feel nothing but relief that the man was gone. Filled with that sense of relief, James toppled to the ground and let out a laugh of relief.

"Zach, how did you …" James began when at last his voice began to return to him. Remembering how Zach had suddenly leapt from the tree to save him.

"Albus." Zach said simply, before James could even get the words out as he pointing at James' younger brother. "He untied me while that idiot was talking about how he was going to kill you."

* * *

They had all commended Albus' quick thinking, and were still standing around when Rose pointed out "You know, we should probably check on your _friends_ over there."

Crap! He had forgotten all about Jeremey and Andrew in this mess! They were probably still unconscious, and he had no idea how he was going to get them out of there.

It did not take them very long to find the pair, who were still slumped behind the tree where James had left them, still totally out. "Is there some way of waking them up with magic?" James asked, remembering the incident on the train the year before when Zach had been knocked out by Remington Parker.

Double crap! Parker! James realized that all of his suspicions about the older Slytherin must have been wrong. Well, that still didn't stop him from being an evil git! It just made him a slightly less insanely evil git; still evil, but just a different kind of evil.

"God, don't you guys know anything?" asked Rose, who shoved them all out of the way and pointed her wand at Jeremey's chest. "Enervate!" she snapped, and Jeremey's eyelids popped open in alarm.

Jeremey glanced around at his surroundings and, true to form, his first words were rather typical of his tendency to make a joke out of everything.

"Guys, why in the name of Merlin's most baggy Y-Fronts is Andrew hugging me?" Jeremey asked rather groggily, staring down at Andrew in a combination of distaste and discomfort. In all fairness to Jeremey, this was probably not the best of ways to regain consciousness.

James couldn't help but laugh, from Jeremey's perspective that was what it probably looked like.

"Ugh, wake Andrew up, and put Jeremey back out will you please?" Albus said, causing everyone to laugh … everyone except Jeremey that is, who was still, understandably, just a little confused.

* * *

By the time that they had woken everyone and were attempting to find their way back down to the Castle, Jeremey and Andrew had been more or less filled in about everything that had happened. Everyone, with the exception of Zach, was pretty bloodied up by this time, and everyone wanted to just get back to the Castle so that they could get all of this over with.

"You know how much trouble we're going to be in." Albus said to James, "We're going to get absolutely murdered because of this, we're breaking so many rules!"

"By who?" James asked, "By McGonagall or by our parents?"

"Both!" Albus exclaimed, clearly petrified by the prospect of what was going to happen to them as a result of all of the rules that they had broken. James, having been through something similar the year before, was not all too concerned by the prospect, he was worried about other things … like whether or not he was going to pass out from all the stress of the day's events.

"Be happy guys, Zach owes all of us a free round of Butterbeers this summer at the Leaky Cauldron after everything we did today."

"Wait, what?" demanded Zach, who seemed at this point to be the only one who was even listening to what James was saying anymore. The rest of them, it seemed, had tuned him out after his dismissive comment about the heaps of trouble they were going to be it.

Albus grumbled and walked away from James to talk to Rose, who was more sympathetic of his fears as she was having some of the very same. James in the meantime took the chance to go talk to Jeremey who was trudging by himself at the back of the group.

"You think we can maybe have a normal year next year?" James asked Jeremey, a thought which had been bouncing around his skull ever since Malcolm Raghnall had vanished some hours before. Though, of course, he should have known better than trying to get a straight answer out of Jeremey, who just laughed and shook his head as though James had said something extremely funny.

"Oh James," he said as though talking to a small child who had asked an extremely simplistic question, "I think you're going to find that 'normal' isn't a word that has much meaning for you. And if you don't mind I'll be coming right along for the ride."

Then again, maybe that was a serious answer considering everything that had happened. Although James sincerely hoped that the rest of the 'ride' would not entail them nearly getting killed again, once in a lifetime was more than enough.

James grinned and said "Alright, fair enough. But no murderers next time, deal?"

"Alright, deal!" Jeremey said, and the two shook on it, though it really didn't mean anything at all. It wasn't like it was up to either of the boys what happened to them, and James had a sinking feeling that the Magical History Movement was going to be back for more.

James looked down at them both, at how cut up and bloodied they were, and it gave him a rather strange thought. When he was little, his parents had gotten him a book for Christmas … well, more accurately they had gotten him several books for Christmas over the years, but most of them had just wound up getting tossed in Albus' room before they had so much as been touched.

But there had been one book that James had actually enjoyed reading, and there had always been one scene towards the end of the book that James had always thought was cool, and which he had always thought would be a good idea, if ever he had a close enough friend.

On a complete whim James said "Hey Jer, I just thought of something. Hold out your arm for a second."

If Jeremey didn't know what James was getting at, or if he found the request strange he didn't show it. The two stopped walking as the rest of the crowd kept walking, leaving the two alone in the forest. Jeremey held out his right arm, which was still bleeding just below the elbow.

Raising his own bloodied wrist, James said "Well, we always say that we're practically brothers, and since we're bleeding already may as well make it official, eh?" It was probably a stupid idea, but since they were already cut and bloodied anyway it seemed to James as a sorta 'might as well' kind of thing.

Jeremey, however, seemed to like the idea a lot more than James did, as his eyes immediately lit up. "Yea!" he said excitedly, "Now that's an idea!" and he raised his arm beside James.

And there in the forest, the two pressed their blood covered arms together, and sealed the pact of their friendship. "Now we really are brothers." Jeremey said grinning.

"Blood brothers." James agreed a moment later.

"Oh crap," Jeremey said a moment later as the two had resumed walking back towards the Castle, "I hope that that doesn't mean you'll treat me like Albus now."

**Thank you all again for reading, just one more chapter to go and then the adventure of James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings shall at last be over. But of course, I'm not going anywhere, as James' story has only just begun! So if you're all willing to stay with me, I shall continue with the next book in the series.**

**Hmm, shall I tell you the name yet? No, not just yet, although those of you who have been reviewing my story all know the name by now, one of the few ways I am able to thank those of you who do me that great service. I always do my best to answer questions, and give little sneak-peaks like that.**

**So stay tuned for the final chapter of James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings, where old questions will be answered, new ones will be asked, and we shall begin to get a look as to where James' destiny will take him when he returns for his Third Year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...  
**

**Once again a thanks to everyone who has been reading, especially to all of you who have REVIEWED! I love writing for you guys. :)  
**


	26. Chapter 26: Homecoming

Chapter Twenty-Six: Homecoming

One would think that after everything that they had been through, they would be greeted as liberating heroes when they arrived back at Hogwarts Castle, with cheering students leaning out of windows and shouting their names. But the fact of the matter was that from the moment that they reached the Castle James knew that they were not going to be greeted quite so amicably. The only people who had even the slightest idea of what had transpired in the Forest were going to be nothing less than furious.

From the moment that they had set eyes of the Castle, the sense of relief that James had felt had overwhelmed every other emotion that he could have had. And as they entered the Castle, James almost wanted to kiss each and every cobblestone that they walked on. But with every step closer to their destination, that sense of relief began to be replaced by a new kind of dread. The kind of dread that James always had when he knew he was going to get in a lot of trouble.

Zach had suggested that they just go about their business as though nothing had ever happened, but James knew that they would never be able to get away with it. The sounds of their battle had surely made their way back to the Castle, and he had heard that the Headmistress even got reports from the Centaurs about students in the Forest!

Of course, this went against everything else that James had ever learned about Centaurs, and was probably nothing more than a rumor to spook little kids, but you never could tell. And if there was anyone who could get a pack of Centaurs to do what she wanted, it was Professor McGonagall.

However she had done it though, Professor McGonagall had found out what had happened, or at least part of it in any event, as she was waiting inside her Office quite expectantly. "I thought you would come to see me." She said sternly, taking a quiet glance back at the bearded portrait of her predecessor behind her, who seemed to be looking at her as if to say 'I told you so.'

Returning her attention to the students who had just walked through her door, Professor McGonagall rose quietly and walked towards them saying in what was an oddly suppressed voice for her, "I don't know what happened in the forest, but I do know that whatever it was you have broken several hundred school rules in the process no doubt. So unless you wish for this to be the last night you ever spend in this Castle you will tell me what possessed you to go shooting up the Forbidden Forest like a medieval dueling hall?"

Unfortunately for them, that was somewhat true, as their actions had necessitated the breaking of a fair number of school rules along the way. But still, wasn't there such a thing as extenuating circumstances? Surely the reason behind their actions justified the rules that they had needed to break?

Of course, there was just one tiny problem with that philosophy, and that was that Professor McGonagall had no knowledge of the reasons behind their actions; and James was doing a very poor job of trying to explain it.

"Well Professor, you see there was …" James began, but every time he started to open his mouth, he was cut off and silenced by Professor McGonagall, who despite looking tired and worn out was still as angry as James had ever seen the woman. Honestly, he did not know how someone who was that old could possibly be that intimidating, but she was.

"I don't want to hear one of your stories James Potter, I want to hear the truth! So if this is one of your ridiculous tales I swear that I will expel you without a second thought!" She snapped, silencing James immediately.

He did not know if she was being completely serious of not, but he did know that if he told her what he happened she would be outraged by his 'made up little fantasy' and would not believe them in the slightest. So there was only one thing to do in a situation like this.

"Rose, why don't you explain." James suggested, an idea that Professor McGonagall seemed to support.

"Yea, let's get the facts from someone who I can _trust_!" she replied, now leaning on her desk as though this was immensely tiring. "So tell me Miss Weasley, what was the reason for which you ran out of the Quidditch Pitch in a huff and distracted the entire school from the Match as you sprinted into the _Forbidden_ Forest?"

Rose was, quite naturally, intimidated by Professor McGonagall's demands. This was, as far as James could remember, the first time that she had gotten into any trouble at Hogwarts, and look what she had gotten herself into!

In the end though, Rose had done a very good job of explaining the events to a very disbelieving Professor McGonagall. "Am I to believe this rubbish?" she demanded, shaking her head as she looked at James expectantly, no doubt believing that he had concocted this story for Rose "Do you take me for a fool?"

"Well how else do you think we got like this, eh?" Jeremey demanded, referring to the bloody state that all of them were still in. Professor McGonagall had refused to allow them to go to the Hospital Wing until they had explained what had happened.

"You dueled each other? Ran into the Centaurs? I don't know, but that is without a doubt the most absurd story I've ever heard!" Professor McGonagall replied, drawing herself up to her full height as she continued "I studied the Pendant of Cleopatra for years, and I can assure you that it was lost centuries ago!"

"Lost and then found!" James snapped, tossing the Pendant, which he had held onto for the entire time, to Professor McGonagall, who caught it pale faced. Though he was not paying close attention, he could have sworn that the Portrait of Professor Dumbledore gave him a smile as he did so.

"My god." She exclaimed as she examined it, looking for the first time like the Headmistress that James remembered for the last two years. "The Resurrection Stone was one thing, but this … this is unbelievable! What kind of resources do they have that they could have found …."

Then, to the shock of each and every one of them, the towering portrait behind Professor McGonagall's desk spoke to them, speaking in slow and measured words that captured their attention without even the slightest of effort.

"Those who practice the Dark Arts will always have dangerous resources at their disposal that we who dwell in the light cannot understand." He said, causing even Professor McGonagall to stop dead and give him her full attention, and not even James dared ignore him. "But those with love and good in their hearts can always give chase to the darkness, so long as we choose to stay true to the light in our hearts."

Everyone waited with bated breath for him to continue, to explain what that meant, but the former Headmaster only tipped his hat to them and strode out of his frame and out of sight.

* * *

Professor McGonagall had not spoken to them after that, but had ushered them silently from her Office and sent them on their way to the Hospital Wing. Highly unusual for the usually kind hearted Headmistress, who James was sure would have insisted on escorting them to the Hospital Wing herself; although James was certain that this was because she was returning to her Office to continue her talk with Dumbledore.

Dumbledore, he had seemed very strange to James, though his Uncle Ron had always said that Dumbledore was a bit of an oddball. Still, his words had seemed rather important, although for the life of him James could not figure out what they had meant. He would have to ask Albus what he thought later, though at the moment Albus seemed too shocked at having met his namesake – albeit in a roundabout fashion - to say anything.

When they had arrived in the Hospital Wing, it seemed to take Madam Palumbo all of her strength not to collapse to the floor in shock when they walked through the door. Grasping a table for support she had gaped at them and asked "Merlin about! Did a chimera chew you children up?"

She had refused to allow them to explain, insisting that they conserve their energy while she tended to them. Besides, as she pointed out, something that secret and important would naturally be the talk of the entire school the next morning. In a place like Hogwarts, nothing could stay secret for very long.

Of course she was right, and once the rest of the school had found out what had happened, the Hospital Wing had been besieged by visitors who wanted firsthand accounts of what had happened in the forest. The place had been so full of visitors asking questions that after less than an hour of it Madam Palumbo had been forced to close off the Hospital Wing to all visitors.

Amazingly, even that had not stopped some of the kids from getting in. Other than Julie Knight, for whom Madam Palumbo made an exception so that she could visit her brother, and Fred Weasley who wanted to see his cousins, a few students managed to slip in to pester them with questions. Of course, Madam Palumbo would throw them out the moment that she found them, but they were persistent!

The most impressive of these entrances was Scorpius Malfoy, who actually intentionally sabotaged his own potion's assignment so that it would explode in his face and necessitate a trip down to the Hospital Wing. The boy's face had been a giant blackened smear of soot, and it looked like something in the potion had not gotten along too well with Scorpius' skin as it had started to boil until Madam Palumbo had cleared the mess away.

James had to admire the boy's guts, ignoring that it was a rather ingenious plan it was one that most people would not have had the stomach for. It was a rebellion against every instinct in ones' body … Scorpius must have _really_ wanted to see them!

"Yea, it's all true." James had confirmed much to Scorpius' amazement. "The whole thing was pretty crazy, I mean I never would have thought in a million years that well…"

That was the one thing that had not gotten out, no one had known the true reason that Zach had been kidnapped. James had made sure that everyone thought that Zach had been kidnapped in order to be sacrificed in some kind of blood ritual. The truth was, in this case, far too big to be divulged to anyone.

Even Scorpius did not know the truth, they had agreed after much protesting from Zach that no one apart from the six of them were to ever know what had really happened down in the forest. None of them had really needed that much persuading though, it was something that Zach had every right to want to keep secret.

In fact, Zach had been very quiet ever since they had returned from the forest, James had a feeling that the truth about his ancestry had been a lot for him to bear. But, after all, he was a Gryffindor not a Slytherin, he was not bound by the mistakes of his ancestors; especially ones who had lived thousands of years before him.

* * *

By the time of the End of Term Feast, all of the boys had been discharged from the Hospital Wing, and were debating Gryffindor's chances at the House Cup. Ravenclaw, after their Quidditch Cup victory, were the odds on favorites to win the Cup this year, but there was still room for anyone to rush in with the annual 'Last Minute Points'.

This year, as it would happen, would not be Ravenclaw's chance to shine with the dual win, as Gryffindor's last minute Points boost would prove enough to win them the House Cup. However, the celebrating at Gryffindor Table was rather subdued, everyone had placed their eyes on a more important prize, and they had not been able to earn it.

Even the congratulatory applause from the other tables was louder than the cheering at Gryffindor Table. Until, that is, Jeremey started a chant going up and down the Table …

"Wait till next year!" he chanted, a chant which soon reverberated up and down the Gryffindor Table, louder and louder until it had become a war cry. It was their mission, their dream, next year would be their year to win the Quidditch Cup!

Professor McGonagall took some time to quiet the Gryffindors, who finally ceased their chanting when she told them that she would deduct fifty points from them if they didn't and give the Points Total to Ravenclaw.

Yup, just another day at Hogwarts.

* * *

As per usual, the Gryffindors had all waited until the very last minute to begin packing their trunks for the train ride back to London, and the 2nd Year Boy's Dormitory was probably the worst of the lot. The Dorm's four inhabitants spent the better part of the evening running around picking things up off the floor and asking whose it was.

A lot of the time, one of the boys would find something in their desk or dresser that did not belong to them, and they would stop their frantic packing long enough to try and figure out whose it was and how it had gotten there in the first place.

In the end, they had been unable to identify a few items as having belonged to any of them, and finally just decided to chuck them in the bin because they were mostly useless anyway. The most bizarre of these items was a girl's tank top that had been found underneath Zach's bed, which all of the boys insisted that they had never seen before in their life.

They would probably never find out why it had been there, but James had a funny feeling that one of the other boys had put it there as a joke. Although why that would really be all that funny he could not imagine, it just seemed rather stupid to be honest.

At last though, the packing was finished, and the boys had their last conversation in the Dorm for that year, one which naturally focused on the events in the forest.

"You know Zach," James said, as the conversation began to turn to the boy's incredible ancestry, "None of us care about who your great great-great-great-grandparents were. You're nothing like them. I mean, you're in Gryffindor aren't you?"

Zach did not seem convinced, so Andrew took up the standard next, "Yea, screw them Zach, they're just a bunch of tossers! You're better than any of them!"

Zach did not say anything in reply, but he had cheered considerably after that. He was more involved in the conversation, and he no longer sounded like he was about to roll over and die, which James thought was a major improvement over how the boy had been acting the past couple of weeks.

* * *

As the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry began to congregate around the Hogwarts Express at Hogsmeade Station, James took the time to seek out his brother Albus, whom he had been separated from while they were leaving the Castle.

The two had been talking, briefly, about a number of things that had occurred, and James could not help but feel that what had happened in the forest had helped bring the two brothers closer together than he could ever remember them being before.

"You know this means that you're not tougher than me anymore." Albus said, shaking James out of his own thoughts and bringing him back to the conversation.

"What?" James asked, still somewhat in a daze.

"Well, we both fought the Magical History Movement this year, so that means I'm just as tough as you are." Albus said, sounding more hopeful than certain of himself.

Realizing what Albus was saying, James laughed and said "Not on your life!"

"Shut up James, you know I am!" Albus whined, shoving James away as both brothers walked, laughing, to the end of the platform.

James had no admit though, he had been forced to now view his brother as more of an equal, and as a result that sense of tension that had been between them for the longest time because of James' constant teasing of his brother was beginning to fade. It was still there, and James had no intention of abandoning his favorite target, but there was a new closeness there underneath the surface that had been absent for many years.

James could live with that.

As the Scarlet Engine pulled into view, preparing to take the students back to London, back home for the summer, James grinned to himself. A lot of things had changed in that year, he had befriended a Malfoy, seen Leon turn against him, learnt that his friend was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin, became blood brothers with his best friend, and developed a new respect for his brother.

Jeez, another year of this and he would be writing poetry and developing table-manners.

"Hey James, get over here!" came the ecstatic voice of Andrew Knight, "Rose found a jinx to make people shit their pants!"

OK, maybe not.

**There are many people who need to be thanked for making James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings, and indeed this entire series a possibility, and unlike last time I'm going to do a proper job of thanking them all.**

**Firstly, a big thanks to my younger brother without whom the idea for this series would never have happened. Many of James and Albus' antics are inspired by my own experiences with my brother, and his input has been a great help in editing my own memories into things that James and Albus would have done.  
**

**Secondly, a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you who has read these books, especially those of you who have Favorited and above all those of you who have Reviewed! Especially Tina95, whose comments and questions have always been both constructive and insightful. Also to 'Beware of the Nargles', who Reviewed almost every chapter. To you two, and everyone else who Reviewed any chapters, a heartfelt thank you.**

**Thirdly, and finally, a thank you to my friend Josh whose conversations with me whilst I was trying to figure out how the hell to work out what was going on in my head were instrumental in getting this done. Not to mention that he inspired most of Bloodlines' funniest parts.**

**Again, a huge thanks to everyone, and I hope that you will join me this Friday, June 17,2011 (That's right I'm setting a date in advance this time!) at 7:00pm EST when I upload the first chapter of the Third Book of the epic tale of James Sirius Potter, entitled James Potter and the Alchemist's Curse!**

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**And now, at 3:23pm EST on June 14, 2011 we come to a close of the 295 day journey that has been James Potter and the Bloodline of Kings, jeez just goes to show how haphazard my updates have been. I hope that the next book will be much more consistent, but we've all seen that my promises to that regard have usually not meant much, so let's just see how things go, eh? Thanks for an incredible journey, I hope you'll stick with me. :)**

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**"Of course it's happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"  
**


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